TBA
by new2thegame
Summary: She was the last of her kind, a people older than earth's known history. His world had been destroyed by the same race that had driven her people from their home. Will he accept her? Will she understand him? Ronon/OC, semi Charmed/SGA crossover.
1. Chapter 1

"So you're telling us that there has been ancients living on earth since you left Atlantis? Ancients that were once ascended, and then chose to….descend?" John Sheppard asked in disbelief.

"How did you think you got the ancient gene? Out of thin air? There had to be Ancients living on earth at one point." McKay said, the ever present sarcastic bite in his voice.

"I know _that_, McKay. She's saying that they are there _now_. I thought that it was against their 'rules' to interfere. I would think that living among us lower beings would break that rule."

The lady sitting across from John at the conference table smiled.  
"It is what I believe you would called a loop-hole. By descending, we were able to offer guidance when able without the consequences. Of course we had to be careful in what we told to whom. Also, there were other, developments, that we had not foreseen." She said

"You lived on earth, descended?" Elizabeth asked. She nodded.

"Yes, I lived there during the time period of the 1960 through the end of the 90's. I was called Penny, and most think that I died of old age, only my family knows the truth."

"You were married? And had children?" McKay asked.

"Yes, and that's why I am here. When the children of formerly ascended being are born, they are born with many of the same abilities as the ascended beings have. My granddaughter, Taryn, has these abilities. There are few of these humans left on earth; in fact, there may be no others besides my granddaughter. And I believe that she may be of great help to you."

"In what way?" Elizabeth asked

"As I said, the descendants of descended ancients often have the same powers their parents, or grandparents, had. My daughter and her husband were both descended ancients, and had been very powerful ancients in their times. Their daughter, my granddaughter, in turn, is a very powerful being, despite not being ascended."

"Wait, what do you mean by powerful? Powerful how?" McKay asked.

"It would be easier to show you than to tell you, but for a reference point, have you ever read the X-Men comics? My son-in-law loved them. Anyways, she has powers like they did, and several of them. She is telekinetic, she can teleport, and can either freeze matter or speed it up until it explodes, among other abilities. And she is a brilliant surgeon, officially a double-board certified general and cardio thoracic surgeon. She could most definitely help in the fight against the wraith and the replicators, but she could also be of use in the medical department."  
"That's amazing…" Rodney muttered.

"What makes you think that she would want to leave everything behind and come here?" Elizabeth asked.

"Taryn has heard stories about Atlantis since she was born, and she figured out pretty quickly that they weren't just stories. Yes, she is a dedicated, brilliant doctor, but she is alone. Her parents were killed in an automobile accident 10 years ago. If I know my granddaughter, nothing will be able to keep her from here." Then she focused her gaze on Rodney. "I will warn you though, not to treat her as a lab rat. That's not why I told you about her, and believe me, she would not be appreciative."

"What? Oh no, of course, wouldn't dream of it. It's just so intriguing…" He trailed off, focusing on his

"Well then, how's bout a little trip back to earth?" John said. "I'll go pack my things."

Waking up at 3 in the morning to find you had fallen asleep on the couch instead on your cozy bed and your neck was now permanently stuck turned to the left sucked. Waking up at 3 in the morning to find your ghost, ascended, whatever of a grandmother standing over you just scary. The moment it registered that someone was peering down at her in her dark living room, Taryn shrieked and instinctively teleported to the kitchen.

What she did not expect to see there were 3 strangers, two sitting at the table, the third half hidden by the open refrigerator door. Once again, instamatics took over her sleep muddled brain, and an energy ball appeared in her hand.

"Taryn, stop, wake up!" Penny cried, appearing in front of her and grabbing her hand. Taryn blinked slowly, seeming to realize for the first time who was standing in front of her. She lowered her hand and the energy ball disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Grams, what's going on? Do you know what time it is?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Trust me, you'll think it's worth it. Taryn, I'd like you to meet Dr. Elizabeth Wier," the woman sitting at the table nodded, " Lt. Colonel John Sheppard," he grinned, "and General Jack O'Neill.' His head finally appeared from inside the fridge.

"Just so you know, I think you have stuff growing in there. That can't be healthy." He came shut the door empty handed.

"Yeah, well, I just got off a week filled with 24 hour shifts and 9 hour surgeries, so I haven't really had time to go grocery shopping lately. But help yourself to anything that looks edible." She muttered.

"Taryn, we have an offer for you, one that your grandmother is certain you will be interested in." Elizabeth said.

"Really now?" she turned to Penny, eyebrows raised. "What kind of offer?"

"One that involves Atlantis." Penny said.

"I'm in." The immediate response and final tone of her voice started them all.

"But, you don't even know what we're offering." Jack said. Taryn shook her head.

"I don't care. It involves Atlantis, which I don't even know how you all know about, so I'm in. Although,  
I wouldn't mind details."

"Well, basically, 3 years ago, we found Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy and ever since have had established a joint military and scientific expedition there, of which Dr. Wier here is the leader." Sheppard said.

"You found Atlantis? They found Atlantis?" Eyes wide Taryn turned to Penny. "It's been 10,000 years, and they found it. It survived?" She turned back to Sheppard. "I can't believe it"

"She doesn't seem too surprised to hear Atlantis isn't a myth…" Sheppard muttered.

"It's true. The place is awesome, although I've only been there a few times." Jack said.

"So…what do you need me for?" Taryn asked.

"Taryn, do you remember your mom telling you stories about a race called the Wraith? And the replicators?" Penny asked. At that, Taryn paled.

"The Wraith? The race that forced Atlantis to be abandoned?"

"You've heard of them?" Elizabeth asked, surprised.

"Yeah, well, my Mom used to tell me stories of Atlantis and its history…thought I should know a little family history. I never thought that those races would still exist."

"Yeah, well, we seemed to wake them up after we discovered Atlantis, and now it's turned into an all-out war. Having someone with such a strong presence of the ancient gene, the gene that allows you to control their technology, would give us access to so many more systems in Atlantis. Not only that, but your medical skills and, unique abilities could be invaluable."

"And how long are we talking? I mean, I'm going. You couldn't keep me away if you wanted to. But are you talking weeks, months, years?"

"As long as we're there, you can be. You have more right to be there than we do….you're basically the last heir to it all." Sheppard said. She sat down at the kitchen table, thinking, processing the information.

"So, what do you say? Wanna take a trip to a galaxy infested with life sucking aliens bent on destroying the human race, drop your life here to go there for an indefinite period of time, leave all you know behind…and go for the most exhilarating ride of your life?" O'Neill asked. Taryn stared at him for a moment, and then grinned.

"Are you kidding me? I've dreamt about Atlantis my entire life. I'm in."

"I've gone crazy, I was insane to think I could be ready this fast….just leave everything behind and moving to another freaking galaxy." Taryn muttered to herself. It was roughly 36 hours later; she was the infirmary at Stargate Command going through the standard work up. It was the first time she has actually had any amount of time to really think about what she was doing.

She was 28 years old, one of the youngest surgeons to be double board certified in her fields in the history of medicine. Her life was simple, as work was all she ever focused on. This morning, she had simply e-mailed her resignation in to her chief surgeon. That was after she had stayed up all night trying to decide what she would need to bring with her, how to pack 28 years into 2 suitcases.

Dr. Wier had told her she would receive uniforms for work and any off world missions, but she grabbed scrubs for surgeries, athletic clothing, and stuff for when she wasn't working. But how do you pack an entire life in 2 suitcases? She had grabbed a few pictures of her parents, her laptop and iPod, and a portable hard drive that had all her music, movies, and everything else on it. Then she had pack only two other personal, non clothing items: her violin, and her collection of sketch books. Her mother had drawn, and Taryn had found some of her old sketchbooks just after she died, and she brought those along with some of her own. And with that she was done and on her way to a top secret, underground military base.

"Ok, looks like you're all set. All blood work came back clean. Your CAT scans show extremely high brain activity, but I honestly expected that, given your genetic history and unique abilities." Dr. Lamb said, walking in with her chart.

"That's what I expected to see with a CAT scan, although I've never had one done before." Taryn responded, looking over the results.

"I'll call up to General O'Neill and let him know your all set."  
"No need, I've come to collect the patient and bring her to the highly anticipated, eagerly awaited IOA meeting." He said, sarcasm lacing his words.

"Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to enjoy this?" She said, sliding off the bed.

"Oh trust me, you're going to hate it. Just don't take any of their bait, and then go spend an hour or two in the gym with a picture of their faces on a punching bag." He grinned.

"Great, I hate politics, especially stuff like this. Couldn't I just, I dunno, use a mind trick to make them think they've conducted the interview?"

"You can do that?" Jack asked

"I wish…" She muttered. O'Neill just laughed

"Don't worry; they won't keep you from going. The just like to think they're the ones in control of it all, when really, once we step through that gate, there isn't anything they can do." He said. They stopped outside the boardroom, where there were 3 men and 2 women sitting there. They didn't look pleasant. She sighed and shot him a pleading look. He held his hands up and back away.

"Look, this part of it wasn't my idea. Just smile, nod, and you'll be done in no time at all." He gave her a pat on the back and then a gentle shove into the room.

"Miss Smith, please have a seat." The man at the head of the table said. She sat in the closest chair, which happened to be the closest to the door and the farthest away from them. She sat and just looked at them, waiting for the storm.

"My name is Mr. Woolsey. Now, understand the circumstances surrounding your passage to Atlantis are most unusual, even by our standards." He opened a folder in front of him. "I have here your medical school history, and all records of your medical training up until this point."  
_  
"What does that have to do with anything?"_ She thought.

"We understand that you have several abilities, more than we even know about. Now, you graduated from med school astoundingly early, and have such a high level of licensing for one so young. How do we know that you didn't use your abilities to speed the process?" He closed the folder and looked up.

"Are you asking me if I cheated my way through med school, and through my entire career?" She asked. At his nod, she snorted.

"First of all, look at my record. I wouldn't have been able to fake my way through the last 10 years of my life without making someone suspicious. I have performed more surgeries with the lowest mortality rate of any doctor at my hospital. Second, what you don't know is that when I use my abilities, my left eye turns from green to blue. Don't you think that someone would have noticed that at one point? Third, how would being able to blow something up with my mind help me cheat through med school? I can't read minds."

"What exactly are your abilities?" The woman sitting to her right asked.

"Do you want a list? Well then, I am telekinetic, I can move objects with my mind. I can also freeze objects, or speed up matter to the point it explodes. I can teleport, we call it orbing, to any location from any location, and while I can't read minds, I can sense peoples' emotions, their feelings. Basically I can read people really well, and I can also self generate a force field." She chuckled. "We discovered that little ability the first time my mother tried to spank me." She looked up, grinning, but stopped short and the fairly disinterested looks on their faces. "Sorry…."

"That is an impressive list. Now, you realize that where you are going, there are alien races bent on destroying the human race. Have you ever had to defend yourself? Do you have any weapons training?" The man to her left asked.

"Weapons training, no. I do have martial arts training, have since I was young. I'm a 7th level black belt, and have trained in various other hand-to-hand fighting training. I'm going to be on a military base. Don't you think there will be someone there that can provide weapons training as necessary?" She said.

"Well, yes, but you must understand the gravity of the situation there."

"It is the city my mother grew up in 10,000 years ago. Incredible, I know, but it's true. I've heard about Atlantis my entire life, and quite honestly, if you don't let me through, I'll start orbing my way there." She said. Mr. Woolsey nodded, and started to speak, but the same man spoke up.

"Now you realize that at Atlantis, there will be studies being conducted. You are the last of your kind, an anomaly of the human race, and we believe that great scientific advances could be make by studying your genetic make-up."

"I understand the curiosity of me genetics, as a doctor I am curious myself. I will NOT, however, become a lab rat." She said, sitting up and looking him in the eye.

"Of course, of course. But as you said, as a doctor yourself, you can appreciate the implications that it could have on the human race. We will work to respect your privacy, but we will also expect a certain level of cooperation." Mr. Woolsey stepped in, sensing her worry.

"Of course, I can appreciate that." She said. _Keep smiling…you can freeze the first scientist that comes at you with a needle once you get there…._she thought, giving what she hoped was a convincing smile.

"I don't believe that there is anything else that we need to cover here. We will ensure that you receive the proper training once you are settled in Atlantis. You can go." Woolsey said, abruptly finishing the interview. Surprised at the sudden ending, Taryn stood, and walked out. Sheppard was waiting for her outside the room.

"Well, that was fairly painless. Apparently I get to learn how to shoot a gun once I get to Atlantis. Although, I think I'm pretty set being able to blow stuff up with my mind and all." She said, throwing him a grin.

"You can do that? Now that's sweet. But still, Dr. Wier and myself think that it would best not to broadcast your abilities to the galaxy. We don't need bounty hunters and thrill seekers hunting you down." They were walking towards the gate room.

"Yeah, let's avoid that if at all possible, shall we? Woah…" They stepped into the gate room, and she caught her first look at the Stargate while it was engaged. "That is incredible." She breathed.

"Yeah, well, your people created the Stargate system. Who knows, maybe it was your uncle or something." He grinned at her.

"Actually, it was her great grandfather, but that is of little consequence." Penny appeared in front of her. "Darling, I must go. Enjoy your time at Atlantis, and call out if you need me." Penny stepped forward and kissed her cheek, then disappeared.

The gate activated at that moment, the _woosh_ forcing a gust of wind to into the room.

"Ready to do this?" Sheppard asked walking confidently up the ramp. She grinned.

"Absolutely." She walked up the ramp, and realized that she was about to leave everything that she knew behind her. She paused at the top of the ramp and looked back. General O'Neill was standing up in the control room. He grinned at her and gave her a mock salute. Smiling softly, she turned, closed her eyes, and stepped through the Stargate.


	2. Chapter 2

"Dr. Wier, Col. Sheppard, welcome back." A woman was walking down an impressive staircase from what appeared to be the control room.

"It's good to be back, Teyla. This is Taryn Smith, our newest resident doctor. Taryn, this is Teyla Emmagan."

"It is very nice to meet you." Teyla said, smiling.

"Likewise." Taryn smiled softly, still looking around in wonder. It was surreal, standing in a room that had been described to her in her mother's stories for years. It was a room that her mother and father had stood in together over 10,000 years ago. It was _home_.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Sheppard walked up behind her, grinning.

"You have no idea. My mother described this city, this _room_ to me so many times, I feel like I've been here before. It's incredible." She said, barely whispering.

"Well then, shall we? I'll show you where you're going to be staying. It's close to the infirmary, so it will be convenient for you. And, according to your grandmother, it was your mother's quarters for several years." Dr. Wier said, smiling.

"Seriously? Wow…that's, well, awesome." She said, feeling slightly overwhelmed.

"You'll meet Dr. Keller, our chief of medicine a little later. First let's get you settled and show you around a little." Dr. Wier motioned to a hallway to their left and Taryn, still looking around in awe, followed mutely.  
Moments later, they stood before her new quarters, and Dr. Wier punched in a sequence of numbers into the console beside the door.

"Go ahead and wave your hand in front of this part of the console. It will key your signature, and only you can open the door unless there is an emergency situation."

Taryn waved her hand in front of the wall-mounted sensor, and the doors slid open. As she walked in, the lights came on, revealing a room that looked familiar. Taryn looked around in shock, then knelt by one of her suitcases and pulled out her on of her mother's sketchpads. She flipped through the book until she found the pages where her mother had drawn her old room on Atlantis. Every tapestry on the wall, the designs of the bed coverings, nearly every detail was the same.

"How in the world did this happen?" Elizabeth asked, looking around with the same look of shock and awe.  
"It was me." A light voice sounded, and Penny appeared before them, looking more like a hologram than a solid human. "It is exactly as your mother had it. Welcome home, Taryn." She smiled, then disappeared.

"Woah, was that what I think it was?" A new voice sounded at the doorway.

"Hello Rodney, and yes, it probably was what you think it was." Elizabeth said, smiling.

"Oh yes, welcome back, good trip I hope? Is this her?" Taryn turned to see a man carrying what looked like a flat touch-screen computer.

"Yes Rodney, this is Dr. Taryn Smith. Taryn, meet Dr. Rodney McKay…"

"Head of the Science department, yes yes, nice to meet you." He cut of Elizabeth's introduction brusquely, and held a scanner up to Taryn's head, slowly moving it downward.

"Rodney!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Uh, what do you think you're doing?" Taryn asked, glaring at him.

"It's incredible, the amount of the ancient gene that you have. There's less than a .5% difference in your genetic makeup and the ancients."

"Maybe that's because my parents were ancients. And if you don't stop scanning me now, I'll blow up your computer." She said, glaring at him.

"Huh?" Rodney looked up to find himself staring into a pair of multi-colored eyes. "Oh, I heard your eyes do that when you're about to…Oh!" He backed up slightly.

"Look, , I understand you're curious, and I promise I'll let you run some tests, eventually. However, I just got here and all I really want to do is sleep at the moment." Her eyes were both green again, and he took a step back. Rodney looked rather dazed.

"Uh, yes, perfectly understandable. Nice to meet you." He said, then turned and walked out of the room.

"I'm sorry about that. Rodney means well, although sometimes he doesn't have the best people skills. He is our resident genius, as well as a member of Col. Sheppard's team. You'll get used to him…hopefully" The last work was muttered as Elizabeth turned away, and Taryn laughed.

"I'm sure I will. So, when do I start? I mean, when should I report to the infirmary? Actually, where is the infirmary? You don't happen to have a map of this place do you?" Taryn asked. Elizabeth smiled, and handed her a tablet just identical to the one Rodney had.

"Actually, this has a complete directory of the city in it. It will also be your database for work, so take care of it. You won't be working today, but you can report to the infirmary whenever you are ready to meet Dr. Keller and get your work schedule. However, as we told you, it doesn't always stick to schedule around here. Also, here is your ear piece. Keep it with you at all times if possible. If you need to call someone, just tap the button and say the person's name, it will connect you to them immediately. If you're paged, just tap the button to answer." Elizabeth paused and smiled.

"And don't stress, at least not yet. Just enjoy yourself. Whenever you feel like it, just head over to the infirmary, I believe Dr. Keller is working tonight."

"Thank you Dr. Wier, I appreciate it. I think I'll crash for a few hours, then head over." By this time, the soldiers had dropped her bags in the room and she was ready to crash.

"If you need me, just call me over the ear piece." Elizabeth said, walking towards the door. "And Taryn, just one more thing. Just so you know, the only people here that know about your abilities are myself, Col. Shepherd, Rodney, and Dr. Keller. And even then the details known are limited. While we haven't classified that your parents were Ancients, we've pretty much left it at that and tried not to broadcast even that fact. Your privacy and your safety are incredibly important, so we have decided that people will know on a need-to-know basis, and they will be asked to keep it confidential. And please, if you need anything at all, don't hesitate to come to me."

"Thank you Dr. Wier." Taryn said, trying to hide a yawn as she did. Elizabeth smiled and walked out. The door closed behind her, and for the first time a 2 days, Taryn was alone and she was exhausted. She set her new technological toys down on a chair, and then fell face first onto the bed.__

  
"I think I'm reading this upside-down." She muttered to herself a few hours later. She was starving, and trying to find the dining hall using the map function of the computer tablet. Now she was completely turned around.

"You're looking just slightly confused. Have you managed to get lost your first couple hours here?" A voice startled her from behind. She turned to see John Sheppard and another man she hadn't yet met standing behind her.

"Ya think? This place is slightly confusing." She said, "And I'm still trying to figure this thing out. I'm pretty sure I'm walking in circles." She referred to the tablet.

"Where are you trying to get to?" Sheppard asked

"The dining hall, or anywhere else with food."  
"Well, you're in luck. We're on our way to the dining hall ourselves. Care to join?" He motioned for her to keep going down the same hallway.

"That would be great, thanks. I don't know if I'd have ever found it. Honestly I just need to grab something and head over to the infirmary to check in." She said, sliding the computer tablet into her black messenger bag and snuck another glance and Shepherd's silent companion. He was tall, probably around 6'2-6'3, and ripped. Not the bulky, 'I can bench more than you can bench' ripped, but more the 'I can kill you with my bare hands and not break a sweat, AND look good doing it' ripped. He had long dreadlocks that were held back with a strip of leather. And he _still _hasn't said a word. He was merely observing her.  
_  
'Observing me checking him out!'_ She realized, sensing his amusement. Flushing, she looked back to John. "So, lead me to the food."

_(a little while later)_

He hadn't said a word. Col. Shepherd, or John as he has instructed her to call him, had introduced her to Ronan, and he had merely shook her hand and nodded. No "Hi," no "How you doing?,' nothing. And stranger yet, she'd had a hard time reading his emotions. Most people were easy to read, their emotions just running wild. Him? Barely anything. No anger, no excitement, no specific emotions. Either he was from a planet where emotions didn't exist, or he just had excellent control. He was a mystery. _I like mysteries….._

Taryn had just grabbed an apple and sandwich, and was now headed towards the infirmary to meet her new boss, and this time she had gotten directions from John before trying to find her own way there.  
It was quiet, a few patients in beds sleeping. There was an office to the left, and a woman probably a few years older than her was filling out paper work. She had headphones on and didn't seem to realize that there was someone standing at her door.

Taryn knocked a little louder on the open door. "Hello? Are you Dr. Keller?" Still no response.  
_I don't wasn't to startle her…_ She twitched her finger, and the little pen holder on the corner of the knocked over, causing the doctor to look up. She stood quickly, scattering the pens even more, and taking out her head phones.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't hear you come in. I'm just trying to catch up on paperwork here." She came out from behind the desk with a flustered laugh. "I'm Dr. Jennifer Keller, you must be Taryn." She held out her hand. Taryn shook it, immediately liking her friendly personality.

"It's nice to meet you." Taryn said, smiling softly. She had the feeling that this chief of medicine would be a lot more personable than the grumpy 60 year old man had been at the hospital she had worked at.

"It must be so exciting for you to come back here. I can't imagine what's it's like to have heard about this place and then actually come back to where your ancestors are from." Dr. Keller looked genuinely interested.

"Yeah, it's been awesome. Dr. Wier even found the room my mother had, and I'm staying there. It's amazing to me."

"Well, there's always something going on around here, hardly a dull moment, and it's a relief to have another capable doctor here. We have been short for the last few months, and it's not easy to get people to sign up for a mission like this one."

Taryn laughed. "Well, it's going to be harder to get me away from this place than anything else. I'm really looking forward to working with you. Do you go with teams on missions a lot?"

"Sometimes, depends on the mission, or sometimes I go on the rescue missions when they know there are wounded incoming. Depends. But you'll be trained with the soldiers before they ask you to go, for your safety and theirs." Jennifer said

"That sounds awesome. I really can't believe these missions are to other worlds. Even though I've known about them my whole life, it's a little surreal that it's actually possible to go."

"Incredible, isn't it? Oh, here is your schedule for this week. We usually do them weekly, as we never know who may be needed off world, and it's always subject to change. We're pretty flexible around here, and will fill in when needed. Also, while you'll have 2 days off a week, we're all unofficially on call all the time, in case of emergencies. Dr. Wier should have your uniforms to you by the day's end. Did you bring your own scrubs?" at Taryn's nod, she continued. "You'll only need them for surgeries, but you can wear them whenever you need them."

Taryn quickly glanced over her schedule. "I'm on with you in the morning shift?"

"Yes, I figured I could show you where everything is, and our procedures with paperwork. It should be pretty quiet tomorrow, barring any unexpected surprises. There is only one team coming back through, so they'll need their clearance checkups and that's very routine." Dr. Keller said.

"Sounds good. How long have you been in Atlantis?" Taryn asked.

"I've been here for 2 years. Dr. Carson Beckett was the initial chief of Medicine, but he was killed just before I came here in an explosion. There was a soldier with an explosive embedded in his chest, and refused to give up. He's been a tough act to follow; he was an incredible man from what I hear."

"I've heard nothing but the best about you, and I can't wait to start working." Taryn smiled.

"Well, you'll get your chance first thing. We'll see you around 7:00, and just call me if you need anything." Dr. Keller said, smiling and sitting back down at her desk.  
Taking that as her que to leave, Taryn backed out and pulled out her computer.  
_Now to find my way back to my room. This should be fun._


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Well, apparently I can't come up with a decent title on my own, so I'm taking suggestions

Ch. 3  
_3 am. Why am I up at 3 am again._ Taryn groaned, rolling over in bed and resisted the urge to scream. She had woken up at 3 am every morning since her grandmother had appeared in her room. Not 2:50, not 3:15. 3 freakin AM every single morning.  
Usually she could get back to sleep, but her stomach started rumbling. She had gone from the infirmary back to her room and fallen asleep early, missing dinner.

_Might as well get up and eat. Don't think I'm falling back asleep tonight. Maybe I can find the gym…after I get food. _ She rolled out of bed, still not believing she was actually getting up at 3 to go to the gym. Usually she wasn't functional at that this time of night unless someone's life depended on it. Even then, it took coffee. Lots of coffee, with a side of Red Bull. _I wonder if they stock Red Bull in the mess hall._

Somehow, she managed to get dressed in gym shorts, a tank-top, and a hoodie and grab her iPod nano without opening her eyes again until she was walking out the door. It was amazing what she could do still in a semi-unconscious state of being when she put her mind to it.

The hallways of Atlantis weren't necessarily darker than during the day, but they were abandoned and eerily quiet. She hurried to the nearest transporter, this time knowing how to get to the mess hall and not wasting any time. It wasn't as if she was worried about meeting a scary alien in a dark hallway, but she would rather be in a room than wandering around a mostly sleeping, floating city. She knew she could take care of herself. She didn't, however, want to create the impression that she was going to be a 'civilian headache' her first week there.

By the time she got to the mess hall, she was completely awake and officially starving. While she didn't find Red Bull, she did find an open box of chocolate dipped granola bars on the main counter in the cafeteria. _Hah, the cook must have gotten sick of people going through the kitchen for food at night and started leaving stuff out. Smart man._

She grabbed 2 bars and a bottle of water from the cooler, then walked in the direction that Col. Shepherd had pointed in when she had asked him about the gym's location earlier that day. _You would think I'd have some natural sense of direction here. _She thought as she rounded yet another corner.

_SMACK!_ She ran into something large, solid, and…warm? At first she thought her sleepy-turned-around mind had caused her to turn the corner a little too sharply and she had hit the wall, but then two hands gently grasped her arms to steady her. With a sinking feeling, she slowly looked up into the not-so-amused face of Ronan Dex.  
"Sorry about that, I didn't really expect to meet anyone else up." She said, quickly pulling herself from his grasp and skirting around him to keep on her search for the gym.

"What are you doing up? It's the middle of the night." He asked. She hadn't really expected him to say anything after this silence the night before. She paused and looked back at him. He was so dang hard to read!

"Couldn't really sleep, so I'm looking for the gym. Am I at least going in the right direction?" She finally asked.

"Next door on the left." She could have sworn she saw a hint of a grin, but he turned and swiftly disappeared around the corner.

_He is so confusing…or maybe it's my sleepy brain that can't figure him out. Oh well_. He had been right, the gym was the next door on the left, and as she had been hoping it would be, it was completely deserted. _Well, duh, not many people are up at 3 with an insane urge to run. Apparently you're the only crazy one here. And I'm talking to myself…again. Case in point. _ She laughed.

If anyone was watching her they'd think she was insane: first for working out at 3 am, and second for laughing at absolutely nothing. Oh well, they might as well get used to it now. She was whacky, random, completely independent, and she wasn't about change that for people she hardly knew. They would just have to deal.

iPod, check. Water, check. Tredmill, check. She cranked the music, a little Breaking Benjamin to get her blood pumping, and started at a slow jog. She tended to let her mind wander when she was running, so she never noticed the tall silent man occasionally walking by the gym door, glancing in and keeping watch. She was completely unaware that, as of that moment, she had an unofficial watchdog

When the 7 am shift rolled around, her middle-of-the-night jaunt to the gym no longer felt like the most brilliant of ideas. Clutching her coffee, in the biggest cup she was able to find in the mess hall, Taryn gulped some coffee, tried not to choke as the steaming liquid burned its way down, and walked into the infirmary.

"Good morning ." A cheerful and painfully _awake_ sounding voice came from behind her.

"Good morning Dr. Keller. How are you doing today?" _There, that didn't sound too sleepy….I hope. _

"Not too bad. How are you settling in? Did you explore a bit yesterday?" Jennifer asked, walking past her and unlocking her office.

"If by explore you me get totally turned around trying to find food, then absolutely. Other than that, I think I'm going to hold off until I learn how to read the map on the tablet a little more accurately."

"Totally understand, it took me a while to learn my way around here. For a while it was to the mess hall and here and that was it. I can show you around a couple other placed later on if you want." Jennifer offered.

"That would be great. Hopefully I won't get lost to many times, or my luck will start to run out. Then no one may hear from me for a long time."

Jennifer chuckled as she came back out of her office. "You'll get the hang of it, don't worry. Ok, so for today, we have one team scheduled to come back from an off-world recon mission. This file will outline our standard evaluation, barring any unusual circumstances. This is probably the most routine exam we perform on the groups, so you'll get used to it pretty quickly." She walked to a larger room and pushed back a curtain.

"Those two rooms are standard supplies, and I'll show you where our storage is later. Also, I've asked Rodney to load our files onto your tablet, so if you look now, there should be a new folder, and in that folder will be files for all our paperwork, patient records, inventory, and just about anything else you would need. It's a secure file, so when you try to open it a box will pop up to scan your thumb print."

"These tablets are amazing…if only they had a program to teach me how to use is." Taryn said, laughing a bit as she slowly navigated back to the home screen to find the new folder Jennifer said should be there. "Got it! Seriously though, I didn't think I was that bad with computers, but this is making open heart surgery seem easy and fun."

"When we were on earth training for this mission, they included a bit of training on the tablets. I'll see if Rodney or someone from his team can give you a crash course."

"As long as he doesn't try to turn me into a lab rat again, that would be great."

"Rodney is just…well, he doesn't realize how others perceive his actions much of the time. He told me what happened, felt bad about it too. But you'll get used to his ways. Most people around here just tell him when enough is enough. And he listens some of the time." Jennifer chuckled.

"Medical team please report to the gate room, off – world team incoming." The voice came over a speaker system.

"Looks like our team is back early today, do you want to come? Medical personnel have to be at the gate in case of emergency, although they usually let us know if they're coming in hot."

Taryn followed Dr. Keller and a 3 medical techs into the side of the gate room, and watched as the vortex came alive with a '_whoooosh.' _

The team came through slowly but steadily, and bringing up the rear was a worn out and pissed looking Major being chattered _at_ by an unfortunately stereotypical looking scientist.

"But we NEED to go back and run more tests. If we can't bring the specimens back to Atlantis before more testing is done, then we must be allowed to run the tests. There's no telling what medicinal impacts the plant may have."

The Major finally turned to the excited little man. "And we will, as soon as we rest up, and run _our_ tests to see how close those wraith ships are and how soon they'll be there. Believe it or not, we actually need to be alive to use the magical little plants. Now shut up, get checked out, and we'll plan our return trip."

"Here," Jennifer was typing on her tablet, "I just sent you a direct link for the off-world return procedures. Why don't you rescue the Major and take Dr. Fellman to the infirmary to go over these forms. Trust me; he'll be eternally grateful for the relief." Jennifer grinned and walked to another member of the returning team.

Walking up to the pair and looking as sincere as possible, Taryn commenced operation 'rescue the major…' "Dr. Fellman, I'm Dr. Smith, why don't you come to the infirmary with me and we'll get you cleared as quickly as possible so that you can start planning your return trip."

"Yes, oh yes, let's get this out of the way so I can get started. Very good, yes, very good…." He nearly ran out the door towards the infirmary. Taryn chuckled and turned back to the Major…_Lorne_ was the name on his uniform.

"Don't worry Major Lorne, I'm new…you know this could take me a long time to get through, so you should have a good break from…him." She grinned as she turned to follow the excited scientist towards the infirmary.

"Hey, Dr…" The Major called after her.

"Smith, its Taryn Smith." She replied, turning back towards him.

"Thanks, and welcome to Atlantis."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"So, do you ever go on missions with the teams?" Taryn asked Jennifer. They were wrapping up the paperwork for processing the team coming back from their mission.

"I've been a few times, but honestly, it's not my favorite thing. I'm not the most outdoorsy girl, and most of the time the missions are not to a metropolis."

"I think I'd like to try it, I mean, the idea of other planets is exciting…even if I can't claim bragging rights without compromising security back home." Taryn chuckled.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get the chance. There are always needs for medical personnel off-world. And it's usually like your ER rotation on crack, in the middle of nowhere, with limited supplies. If you like that kind of challenge, then you'll love this." Jennifer said with a sarcastic tone in her voice, but also chuckling.

"Yea, unfortunately I was the crazy med student that likes the ER rotation. I think it's because I had no life outside of school and that was about all the excitement I got.

"Well, trust me, the quiet that we've had yesterday and today are deceptive. Its not usually this quiet for long." Jennifer said, chuckling and stand up. "I'm done here, and the then the next shift should be in. Whenever you're set with your paperwork and the next victim has clocked in, you can go ahead and be done for the day."

"Thanks for showing me the ropes. I'll see you tomorrow." Taryn glanced up at her, and then went back to her paperwork. A message popped up on the screen of her tablet.

"Taryn, please report to the weapons bay at 1600 hours for training with Col. Shepherd. ."  
_  
Awesome, going to play with boys and guns. Is it bad that the first thing that entered my mind is wondering if Ronan is going to be there?_ She gave herself a mental shake, closed down her tablet and, glancing around to make so no one was close enough to see, orbed back to her room. It was only 2, time for an hour power nap.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
_  
_"Ahh, it's the good doctor." Shepherd turned from a counter filled with gun, gun parts, what didn't even look like guns, and grinned. "Ready for the fun part of the day?"

"You might not think it's as fun if I manage to not grasp any of wisdom you're about to impart to me." She said, eyeing the counter-full of weaponry.

"Have you ever shot a gun before?"

"Nope, never needed to, given that I can utilize other, uh, abilities, that are just as effective. " She said, grinning.

"Oh, yea. So...I heard you can blow stuff up. How does that work exactly?" He asked.

She looked around, "I can show you…anything around here you don't need anymore?"

"How accurate can you be? How about the shooting target down there." He pointed at the target down a shooting lane. "The target, not the frame."

She waved her hand and it exploded. "I can also freeze it." She said, waiving her hand again and the former-target-turned-confetti that was slowly drifting to the ground froze.

"That's awesome." He said, grinning like a kid that just found candy…and lots of it. She waved her hand again and the paper floated to the ground.

"Yea, I have to say it comes in handy. Freezing more than blowing up. People who are annoying, I can just freeze them, and by the time they come out of it I'm gone. Vanished. Should have been a magician."

"So, you can freeze anything then? Does size matter? Or is it really just, anything?" He asked.

"Larger objects, or something moving, are more difficult. Especially moving. The greater the velocity or power, the harder it is to freeze, and it won't last very long. Anything like that, it takes more energy from me to do and if it's really big, tired me out physically. Same with moving objects. The larger or heavier the object, the more energy it seems I have to expel to control it. Of course, I don't have any scientific proof of that, just experience."

"Still, that's pretty awesome."

She chuckled, "It is fun, huh?"

"Alright, down to business." He held a pistol out for her to take.

"Alright…but if this doesn't work I'm just going to blow stuff up. Or run away." She said, putting on the large ear protecting headphones and eye wear, and taking the gun.

"No worries. By the time you're done with me, you'll be a pro." Shepherd said. "Now, aim for that target, and when you're ready, squeeze the trigger."


	4. Chapter 4

_I should just stick with blowing stuff up_. Taryn groused to herself. She was at the weapons bay for target practice Her aim definitely had something to be desired. _Seriously, way more effective for me than this. _A week had passed since her first training session with Col. Shepherd, where it had become quite clear that guns were not her forte. She wasn't hitting far off the target, and even managed to hit it occasionally, but sharp-shooter she was definitely not. Hence spending her time at target practice on her day off.

Her earpiece beeped. "Taryn, please report to the infirmary. We have an unscheduled team arrival and they're coming in with wounded. Sorry to interrupt your day off, but we need all available medical personnel for this one. " Jennifer's voice came through the ear piece.

"I'll be right there."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It had only taken her 10 minutes to drop stuff at her quarters and get to the infirmary, but the place was already packed. And not just with the SGA team, which looked to be Col. Shepherds team. There were a dozen or so other people that looked to be native to whatever planet they were just on, their clothing appearing to be handmade and…bloody.

"Dr. Keller, where do you want me to start?" Taryn grabbed a pair of gloves and an emergency kit tray. Jennifer was cleaning a nasty looking burn type wound on one of the native women's shoulder.

"If you want a challenge, Ronan is right over there and needs stitches in his side, but is putting up a fight…as always. After that, you can work through any SGA personnel that needs attention and I have others working on processing our…guests."

Taryn headed towards the curtained area Jennifer had pointed out, expecting Ronan to be on the bed, at least sitting. Instead, he was pacing around the small curtained area and looked pissed. He stopped pacing and just looked at her. For the first time, she had no trouble getting an emotional read from him. He was angry, and wasn't even trying to control that emotion. She also had not trouble seeing where he was hurt. The right side of his usually brown shirt was stained dark red.

"Why don't you sit on the bed and I'll get you stitched up and out of here." She said, motioning to the hospital bed in the curtained area.

"I don't need medicine. I just need you to tell me I can go so they don't try to stop me on my way out." He practically growled. She was surprised he was actually speaking in full sentences, as her limited experience around his suggested that was rare.

"I'm sure you are, but if I don't at least take a look then I could get in trouble and I'm trying to avoid that for the first couple weeks at least." He just glared at her. She glared back at him. "You can sit there and glare at me, but the faster you can get out of here and I can get to others that need help."

He glared for a few more minutes, but slowly walked around her and sat on the very edge of the bed.

"Fine."

She had a feeling that might be the last word that he said to her for the day. She lifted his shirt up, mindful of the wounds and possible dried blood sticking to it. It appeared to be a bullet wound of some kind, larger in caliber than she had seen in the city ER's on earth, but it it grazed his side.

"It's not to bad, just a graze, but whatever type of bullet was large and it's bleeding heavily. You'll need stitches but it should take long to heal." She said as she cleaned the area around the wound. He said nothing. She picked up the syringe with the local anesthetic in it and moved to numb the area around the wound, but before she could inject it he grasped her wrist.

"No meds."

"What? Why not? This is just to numb the area around the wound; the stitches are going to be painful."

"I don't like how meds make me feel. Just do it, I can take it." He said. The anger she felt from him just intensified and she knew better than to keep arguing.

"Ok, but if want me to use it, just say so. I need to remove your shirt. Do you want to keep it and try to get it off without cutting it?" He shook his head and she started cutting through the rough material. Now, Taryn had seen her fair share of male bodies throughout her medical carrier. It was safe to say that none thus far could compare to the chiseled physique of the man sitting in front of her. Her height put her just about eye level with his chest…his fine…chiseled….tanned…_Snap out of it._ She gave herself a mental shake. Hopefully he hadn't noticed her distraction… _Nope, still just pissed.___

She hesitated before sticking the hook-shaped needle through his skin. Giving stitches when you know the patient was at least numbed to the sharp pain was one thing. Doing it when you knew they could feel every pinch and poke was another.

"Doc, this isn't the first time I've had this done. I know what's coming. Just do it." He actually sounded like he was trying to reassure her. She nodded and pushed the needle through his skin. Other than his shark intake of breath at the first pass, he showed no sign that it was bothering him. She finished as quickly as possible and covered the wound with gauze and tame.

"Ok, you're done. Try not to get it to wet, and if you tear any stitches just come back and I'll patch them up. Wait here, I'll be right back." She stripped off the gloves and grabbed some mild pain killer from the supply cabinet. "Here, they're mild pain killers, no groggy side effects. If the pain keeps you from sleeping, take 2 and it should help take the edge off."

Nodding, he stood up and took the pills. "Thanks doc." And with that he walked out of the room…still shirtless. If there hadn't been patients around, she might have just stood there and drooled. Instead, she turned and went to the next patient. Hopefully this one would take the pain meds.

It had taken over 4 hours to treat all the wounded and process all other incoming people. The team had been off-world working to build relations with a native people group that were agriculturalists, and apparently had vast knowledge of medicinal properties of plants. The second day off world, a neighboring village had heard that there were men with weapons there, which violated some peacekeeping treaty between them and attacked. And, ironically, attacked with weapons _they_ weren't supposed to have per the terms of said treaty. Most of the village scattered, but there had been about 20 men, women, and children that had been cut off from any other route of escape, and Shepherd brought them back to Atlantis.

Ronan was still such a mystery. When he did speak, it was short and to the point. If that. This had also been the first time she had actually been able to get a clear emotional sense from him, and it was unbridled anger. At her? She didn't think so; it had been there before she had opened the curtain. But something had infuriated him.

He had managed not to make a sound when _she_ was stitching him up. He had managed not to let her soft hands cleaning his wound effect him, even when he noticed how she had taken even just a moment to take _him_ in. He couldn't deny that he had felt some satisfaction at her attention, and apparent approval.

There was something about her that seemed different, but he couldn't figure out what. When she walked through the gate the week before, he had been in the control room in the background. She had looked in awe, but more not shocked or surprised as every other new member of the Atlantis team did the after their first trip. She seem, at home there.

And as for how the others had treated her, Rodney was eyeing her like his latest lab rat. Elizabeth seemed to have no reservations about letting her roam free. John was more eager to get her trained for off world trips faster than any other new medical personnel since Ronan had been there. He had heard that she was directly descended from the Ancestors, but then again, weren't most earthlings to some extent? What made her so different?

Even he felt drawn to her, but he had made it a point to avoid too much direct interaction. He had managed to not get involved with anyone since he'd arrived, even though it had been 8 years since…well, since Seteda had been attached for the final time.

He tossed the bottle of pain medicine on the counter in his room, having no intention of taking it. He had dealt with worse and survived. What he needed, and planned to get, was some sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_I'm going to kill someone. Or something._ Nothing had been more frustrating than her nightly 3am internal alarm clock going off. EVERY. FREAKING. MORNING. For the last week she had just stayed in bed, thinking that maybe she would just eventually fall back asleep, but that hadn't happened. She was wide awake and it made no sense…and she was sick of just staying in bed.

The past few days she had noticed people running the halls throughout Atlantis as opposed to using a treadmill in the gym. _Might as well. Not like they're going to be crowded this time of night._ She thought, rolling out of bed and getting ready.

The first night she had gone out at night, Atlantis had seemed, creepy. Especially if you thought about the fact that the city was tens of thousands of years old. But tonight it seemed more peaceful. It had very quickly become familiar territory, especially as she had looked through her mother's sketch book and matched various scenes on those pages with views and rooms around Atlantis. While her mother had drawn those images thousands of years after leaving the city, the detail was impeccable.

Running the hallways and stairs as opposed to running on a treadmill was nearly as good as running outside at a park. When running by the floor to ceiling windows, she could see the lighted towers of other sections of the building. The sheer _size_ of Atlantis was in itself something to be amazed at, especially when taking into account the fact if could fly.

She was running past one of the outer wall windows when movement outside caught her eye. The water within a couple yards of the city was illuminated by the city lights. _I could have sworn I saw something out there._ She moved closer to the window, scanning the water for more movement, but only saw the waves lapping up against the city. _I must have been imagining things._ She scanned the water one more time. _Maybe it was a fish or something._ She couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, but forced herself to keep moving.

_Later that morning_

"Dr. Weir, do you have a moment?" Taryn knocked on the frame of the open door to Dr. Weir's office.

"Of course, come in. How are you settling in?"

"Oh, fine. Honestly, it's been awesome." Taryn sat in the chair in front of the desk."

"Good. Col. Shepherd tells me that you have been working through the off world training and should be ready to accompany teams off world when needed." There was something about Dr. Weir's demeanor that automatically put you at ease

Taryn chuckled. "He's been more than patient with my lack of weaponry savvy. My aim is much better with my abilities than with guns…but I can't wait to be able to travel."

"I'm sure you'll be off world in no time." Dr. Weir said, smiling. Taryn hesitated before going on.

"I wasn't going to bring this up, but I haven't been to shake it from my mind. It might be nothing, but if I don't at least bring it up I won't be able to stop thinking about it."

"Ok, what is it?"

"Every night since the night you were at my house in LA, I've been waking up at 3am. Every morning, I have no idea why, but it's been like clockwork. Last night, I decided to go for a run through the halls, and when I was running by the outer wall on the east side of the side I thought I saw something in the water. I couldn't see exactly what, there wasn't much lighted area to see, and it could have only been a fish or something. But I've just had a nagging feeling I can't shake about it."

Dr. Weir stood up and started to walk out of her office towards the control rooms. "That is definitely worth checking out. Come with me, we'll check sensors to see if anything unusual was picked up last night. We don't often have much sea life activity near the city, the energy output disturbs the waters enough to keep them away, and I don't like leaving anything to chance."

Taryn followed her to the control room and over to one of the control panels being manned by a soldier she has seen around. "Sergeant, I need you to pull up sensory reports from last night, around 3 and after. Focus on the east side but run reports for the entire city."

"Yes ma'am." The screen lit up with data scrolling, and nothing that looked like an alert sounding. "There isn't anything that set the sensor off, but you said the east side?" The Sergeant asked? Dr. Weir looked at Taryn to answer.

"Yes, I believe so. I was in this area," She pulled a schematic of the city up on her tablet and pointed it out, "Overlooking the outskirts of the city over here. I would say around 3:20ish."

"For the sensors to be alerted, the disturbance must reach a certain level. While nothing reached that level last night, the monitoring system log does show minor activity in the water around there. I'm pulling up video surveillance for that area, we may have footage."

While he was pulling the footage up, Dr. Weir turned to Taryn. "You say you've been up at 3 every morning? Have you tried taking something to help you sleep?"

"I tried the couple nights between that day and when we came here, but I still woke up. I don't know what is it, but I've managed to adjust for now."

"Still, you may want to check in with Dr. Heighmyer. So much has happened since then, especially coming back to Atlantis, any normal person would be affected." Taryn nodded, but before she could respond, video footage pulled up on the screen.

"Ok," The sergeant started the playback. "Here is footage starting at 3, playback speeds slowed so we can catch anything. That camera covers a large area and rotates constantly, so if there was someone in that area we should be able to….There!" He paused the footage and pointed towards an darkened corner area on the screen.

"You can hardly see it, but this timestamp matches with the sensory logs. I'll brighten the image." A few seconds later, he replayed the footage even slower, and froze the frame. There was someone in the water, in what appeared to be earth-like scuba gear, holding something up to the outer wall of the city.

Dr. Weir immediately tapped her earpiece. "Col. Shepherd, please come to the control room immediately, we have a security issue." She turned back to the Sergeant. "I want you to run an analysis on all sensory reports for anything reporting movement like that for the last week. If you find more, extend the search back several weeks and report back to me what you find."

Col. Shepherd ran up the stairs to the control level, Ronan and Teyla close behind. "What's going on?"

"Look at this, it was taken last night at a little after 3." Shepherd slammed a hand down on the railing.

"Why wasn't there a alert on the sensory log this morning?" He asked.

"The disturbance wasn't strong enough to trigger an alarm." The Sergeant at the control panel said.

"Then how did we find this."

Taryn spoke up. "I was running last night, thought I saw something in the water."

"You were running at 3 in the morning?" Shepherd asked incredulously.

"Again?" Ronan added. Taryn glanced up at him to find him looking at her as if studying her reaction.

"Yea, long story. Anyways, I couldn't shake the feeling there was something in the water last night, so I brought it up to Dr. Weir."

"And it's a good thing." Dr. Weir said, stepping over to the control panel. So far we've been able to locate 3 nights in the past week where this same figure is picked up around the city. All around the same time, always carrying what looks like a scanner of some kind, as if taking readings from the city."

"Oh, this could be very, very bad." Rodney walked up to the group. "We've been able to single out slight power fluctuations at those same times. As if there is a small amount of power being drained, and again, not enough to alert any systems."

"So they've been stealing power from Atlantis for who knows how long? Can we tell if anything else has been done?" Shepherd asked?

"We're running tests now but we may not be able to tell without catching whoever that is in the act." The Sergeant, a Sergeant Mackelroy, stated. "Now, he hasn't been there every night, but no specific pattern. It's anywhere from as short as 2 nights to 5 nights in between visits. Chances are he won't be back tonight."

"Well then," Dr. Weir, "We need to come up with a plan of action, and we need to start on that now. If we can apprehend this person and bring him in then we can find out who he is, where he's from, and what he wants with Atlantis."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N

Thank you for the reviews! Keep them coming. Constructive criticism is welcome (No flames, please), and thank you to the reviewer that pointed out the correct spelling for Ronon's name. Also, to clarify if needed, anything in _italics_ is Taryn thinking to herself (hopefully it was clear before now, but just to avoid any confusion).

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"Dr. Weir," Taryn ran after her she left the control room. Dr. Weir paused and turned.

"Yes?"

"I can help. If you do manage to apprehend whoever this is, I can use my abilities to get him and bring him back." Dr. Weir paused before answering.

"I know you're correct in that, but at this point I don't really want to make your abilities known. If this is something we can do with technology and not by exposing you at this point, we will go down that road." Dr. Weir continued walking to her office.

"But I can help!" Taryn started after her again. Dr. Weir stopped walking and turned.

"I am well aware of that, but I don't want to jump the gun and take that for granted. We will do this with our current resources and that's final." Dr. Weir's voice made it clear the decision was final, and Taryn sensed…_Annoyance_.

"Yes ma'am." She muttered as she turned and left the main area.

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Anyone who saw Taryn walking through the hallways would have questioned her sanity. And scene: speed walking down the hallway muttering to herself, her combined hand gestures and facial expressions giving the impression she had lost her mind.

"Seriously, why even bring me here if not to use my abilities to help? Come, just be a good doctor and don't let me help in a situation where I could be there and back again before you could even push the keys on the computer." She muttered to herself, walking back to her quarters.

"You know, I've heard your people say that talking to yourself is a sign of insanity." A voice sounded right behind her.

Taryn jumped slightly, startled, and turned to see Ronon standing about 4 feet behind her, arms folded.

"Seriously, what's with sneaking up on me?" She all but snapped at him.

"I've been behind you since you left the control room, and I wasn't sneaking. You were just not paying attention." He said. She could practically feel him smirking, even if it wasn't apparent on his face.

"Can I help you with something? Is your side ok?" She asked, trying to control her irritation.

"My side is fine. I was wondering, though, how you could see in the water. I mean, from what you said, you were running on an upper level, and the water is far below and dark." He almost sounded like he was questioning her.

"I can't explain it. It was dark, but the light from the city illuminates a few yards of water…Still, it was more of a…feeling. I was running by, and thought something caught my eye. I don't' know." She said

"Sounds rather convenient to me." Smirking gone, he actually sounded as if he was accusing her of something.

"What are you trying to say?" She asked, mimicking his position with arms crossed.

"Nothing. Just saying, it sounds rather convenient. You're barely here for a week after suddenly being transferred in for no apparent reason; you see the impossible and discover an intruder our sensors, the _Ancients' _sensors failed to detect." He took a step closer to her.

"Ahh, I see, you don't like the fact that I saw something, and YOU didn't. And just because Dr. Weir didn't feel the need to fill you in on why I'm here, don't assume there isn't a damn good reason I'm here." She matched his step closer and glared up at him. There were now only a few feet between them now, and she was suddenly aware she had to crane her next quite high to see his face. If she just stared straight at him, she was barely chest level.

"Excuse me, boys and girls, everything ok here?" Shepherd strolled up behind Ronon.

"Yep." Ronan said, stepped around Taryn, and walked down the hallway. She wanted to throw something at him….her shoe maybe? But instead just glared at the back of his head and thought angry thoughts.

"And I repeat, is everything ok here?" Shepherd asked, this time the question directed to her personally. She sighed and turned back to him.

"Yea, everything's fine." She said, smiling slightly.

"Look, I know you're anxious to be useful, and you will be. It takes time."

"I know." She said.

"We have processes and procedures that have been set up over the last couple years, probably different than any other base just because of where we are. While Elizabeth knows the potential of what you can do and how it can help us, she is always more cautious than not. And, you just beaming whoever that is up would expose you."

She felt like a child being berated, but knew it was warranted.

"I know you're right, I just feel like there's so much I could do, and I know the time will come. Patience has definitely not been my strongest quality, like…..ever." She laughed a little.

"Then you're in good company. Don't worry; eventually you'll be sick of being called on to save the day." He patted her on the shoulder and moved past her to follow Ronon down the hallway.

_I'm being childish, and I know it. But still…_

"There you are. Come with me." She jumped and may have screamed just a _little_ bit as a hand grabbed her arm and tried to pull her to the right. Instinct kicked in and she froze whoever had grabbed her. It was Rodney… She suddenly realized what she had done and unfroze him, looking around and praying no one had noticed.

"Rodney, what are you thinking, you scared me."

"I know, I know, but come with me." He said, still tugging on her arm. She pulled her arm from his grasp and motioned for him to lead the way.

"Where are we going?"

"There's a lab we've recently started looking into, and I have a theory that I need to test." He said, punching something into his tablet while rushing down the hallway.

"And that theory would be?" She pulled him to the left of the walkway, narrowly escaping a head on collision with a crate being pushed down the hallway.

"Huh? Oh, it's easier to show you than explain, but if it does what I think it does, it would be huge."

"If what does what you think it does?" She asked. He sighed in annoyance.

"Just come with me and I'll show you." He said, walking into a transporter. Curiosity kept her from arguing more, and she followed him in.

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"Now we have decoded some of the ancient text, from what we've read it appears that this lab may have been used to develop a tracking system across Pegasus galaxy. We know that the Ancients had labs on other planets, we've found one already." Rodney hadn't stopped talking the entire walk to the lab.

"You found, and blew up, you mean." A skinnier man with an accent said, laughing.

"You blew up the lab?" Taryn asked. Rodney glared at the other man.

"Not on purpose. Taryn, this is Zelenka. Zelenka, Taryn."

"Nice to meet you." Zelenka said. "And actually, he blew up the planet it was on. The lab was just collateral damage."

Taryn chuckled. "Nice one." The red in Rodney's face was slowing deepening.

"Yes, yes, it's a great story. Now, would you please step over there onto that platform?" He pointed to a circular platform in the middle of the room.

Taryn walked over and stepped on. There were consoles of some kind around about half of the platform, and they all lit up with a humming sound as she stepped on.

"Now we know that much of the ancient technology is limited to being controlled by someone with the ancient gene, and some pieces are more sensitive to that than others. We could get this to turn on, but that's about it." Rodney said, leaning over the console to take some readings.

"So, what should I do then?" Taryn asked.

"Well, as I was saying before being so rudely interrupted," Rodney gave Zelenka a pointed look, "We believe that the Ancients had research facilities all over the Pegasus Galaxy, some possibly on ships, and this was a way to keep track of them."

Zelenka walked up next to Rodney. "If we could locate more of these facilities there's no telling what we could learn, what former allies of the Ancients we could meet, the possibilities are endless."

"Anyways, we've been trying to access this database, but haven't been able to before. So, that's where you come in." Rodney seemed to excited about this it was amusing.

"Sweet. What should I do?" Taryn asked…again.

"Well, try to think about, I dunno, research facilities." Rodney said.

"Are you serious? Like, Peter Pan?" She asked.

"Well, much of the technology is controlled that way. So, place your hands _here_," he pointed to a sensory grip, "And try to visualize."

She put her hands on the consol, and closed her eyes. _I feel like I'm being punked…_She cracked an eye open. "Anything happen?"

"No, try, ok, close your eyes again." Rodney said, and she did. "Now try to visualize where we are in the universe." She did and a humming sound started. This time, when she cracked an eye open, there was a massive hologram above her filling the upper level of the room.

"Oh my god…that's incredible." She breathed, looking up at the images surrounding them.

"Yes! Ok, Zelenka, start recording these Stargate addresses. Taryn, don't move until I tell you to. And don't touch anything else on the control panel." Rodney was typing into this tablet furiously while barking out orders to the others around them.

"So are there other labs like this around the city?" Taryn asked after a few minutes of silence. There was no response…in fact, no one even looked up or acknowledged that she had spoken in any way. _This is going to be a long day._ She sighed mentally.

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_(Later that evening)_

_Ok, new technique for trying to sleep past 3 am. Workout BEFORE bed._ Meds weren't helping, staying in bed wasn't doing anything, so tonight Taryn decided to try to work out before bed to see if that would help her sleep longer. _Past 3 o'clock, at least_. _You would think standing in that lab for hours would do it, but no…._ After two hours of taking readings, recording the coordinates in the hologram, and taking other readings, Rodney had deemed it ok for her to leave, but only on the condition that she promised to come back again and activate the lab. Soon. _Blah._

It was the first time she had gone in the gym when there had actually been other people there, since it was also the first time she had been there when it _wasn't_ 3am. It was definitely more crowded when it wasn't the middle of the night. There were military personnel doing what looked like hand to hand combat training, and at the center of it all was…Ronan?

_So much for taking care of his side and not pulling stitches._ She thought, although as she watched she noticed he seemed to barely exert himself, while those challenging him looked anxious and ended up on the floor most of the time. She stood towards the back of the crowd watching, and couldn't help but admire how fluid his movements were. Once again he was shirtless, and that seemed to have a particularly_…_unprofessional effect on her.

Suddenly, as his latest opponent ended up on his back on the ground, Ronan turned, scanning the crowd and his focus landed on her.

"Whatcha say, Doc, up for a little one on one?"


	7. Chapter 7

AN: To the reviewer who asked about who knew that Taryn had the gene and if that was supposed to be a secret: It is more her abilities that is supposed to be kept quiet up until now. Since several members of the team poses the ancient gene, that fact isn't confidential.

Ch. 7

It seemed like she could physically _feel_ the dozen or so pair of eyes that turned to her after Ronon spoke. "_Up for a little one on one?_"

"Uh…I don't think so. He seems to be doing quite well at the moment." She stammered, referring his current opponent, a young soldier currently trying to catch his breath while lying on the matt.

Ronon just smirked at her and walked a little closer. "I heard you had hand to hand combat training. Just want to see what you can do."

_What? _"I've had martial arts training, if that's what you're referring to. But that was a long time ago." She said, resisting the urge to take a step back as he came closer.

"So you let the training go?" He made it sounds as if she was doing something wrong. She glared at him.

"You go to medical school and through residency and see how much free time you have. Speaking of which, you're under doctor's orders to rest. This," she looked around, "Isn't resting."

"Yes, compared to my usual routine, it is resting." His look darkened.

"Oh, well then, if that's your professional opinion then who am I to contend with that?" She said sarcastically. Was he cute? Yes, very…and in the tall, dark, and handsome way. And he was possibly one of the most frustrating people she had ever met. For some reason he seemed to have decided not to like her, and was trying to bait her every chance he got. _He's making me want to freeze his ass permanently._ Her fingertips were practically tingling with an itch to shut him up with a flick of her hand, and she could feel the, well, the power, slowly building up. It would be so easy to just freeze the room and run from this situation…she clenched her fists and took a deep breath to get control before they changed colors and exposed her. Ronon seemed to notice something was going on with her, his taunting look lessening as he studied her face. The voice behind her was a welcome distraction.

"Why is it that I always seem to find you two getting along so well?" Col. Shepherd was standing behind her, for how long she didn't know. Ronon didn't say anything, but nodded at Shepherd and then turned his attention back to the soldier who had since gotten himself off the floor.

_He looks scared…_ Taryn thought of the soldier as she watched Ronon stalk back towards him. _I can't believe I almost lost control like that…stupid stupid stupid._

"Taryn? Everything ok here?" She turned to face Shepherd, trying to smile as if nothing was bothering her.

"Yep, everything is fine." She said, still working on the smile. Shepherd studied her face for a moment and then motioned towards the doorway.

"Why don't we take a walk?" He said and it was clearly not a question. He followed her out of the gym and turned left.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Maybe nowhere in particular. You just seemed to need a break from that situation. Ronon doesn't know what's he's up against with you." He shot her a grin.

"I don't get him, at all." She muttered. "I don't think I've ever had such a hard time reading someone, especially someone who seems to not like me."

"Ronon is…well, Ronon has a very different background than anyone else you've ever met. That I can guarantee. He'll warm up to you, it just takes a while."

"He's from one of the planets you guys went to, right? How did he end up here? I know how Teyla's people ended up with Atlantis, is it something like that?"

Shepherd was quiet for a minute. "Ronon's home world was one more advanced than most you see around here, and were at war with the Wraith…and not doing to badly until the Wraith invaded. They destroyed the planet, killed everyone who was there. Ronon was taken prisoner, and then was hunted by the Wraith for 7 years before we met and helped him. I won't get into the details, those aren't for me to tell, but he is a good guy."

She let that sink in. He had no one left, just like her. "I don't doubt that he is a good guy, and I don't know how someone could cope with a tragedy like that. And it's good that he's been able to find a new home here. I just don't know what I could have done to offend him."

"Trust doesn't come easily to him, neither does accepting new people into the close circle you have managed to become a part of. Not much slips by him, he has probably sensed you're different, and are treated differently than other rookie doctors. Just…try not to blow him up or anything." Shepherd laughed.

"Yea…that might be the only issue." She said, giving a little laugh and thinking about her earlier encounter with Ronon. Shepherd stopped walking and grasped her arm.

"Listen, I don't understand how your abilities work or anything, but is controlling them an issue?"

She shook her head. "I've never had any trouble with that before; I don't see why I would start to now." _Except when Ronon is being his friendly self._

"Good." His grasped on her arm turned her into a room on their left. It looked similar to the lab Rodney had taken her to, minus the team of scientists and lab equipment. There was a podium in the center, with the customary Ancient control console.

"What does this one do?" She asked, the room lighting up as she walked forward.

"I thought you might like to do a little family history research." Shepherd reached around her and activated the console. A hologram of a woman appeared, dressed in a long white rob.

"Now, use these to control what she tells you about, history, people, other worlds, just about anything you want to know about the people and place of Atlantis. I asked Rodney, with the ZPM in use this won't draw any significant amount of power so have at it." He turned to walk out of the room.

"Thank you, Colonel." She said. He turned back towards her, smiled, and left.

_**1 hour later**_

She had found the records of the last census of Atlantis, and with it holographic images of all current inhabitants of the city at the time. Then she had found holograms of both of her parents…She was sitting against the wall about 15 feet from the podium, knees tucked up to her chest, just staring at them. The holograms were life-size and it was almost to much to see such a realistic image of them. They looked about 15 years younger than when they had died, meaning the images had to have been taken only shortly before they ascended. She had gotten her green eyes from her mother, the brown hair from her dad. She has missed them so badly since they died…

**Taryn, do you copy?** Dr. Weir's voice followed the beeping notification sound on her ear piece. Moving slowly, as her legs had fallen asleep from sitting on the hard ground so long, she stood as she replied.

"Yes, I'm here."

**We need you at the gate room, asap. There are new developments with the situation you discovered and we may need your assistance.**

"I'll be right here." She was still in her running shorts…not the most professional work attire. _No one is around_. She thought, then orbed to her quarters to grab her work clothes.

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5 minutes later she practically ran into the gate room. Dr. Weir, Col. Shepherd, Teyla, Dr. McCay…they were all in Dr. Weir's office. Dr. Weir saw her and motioned her in. When she walked in, she saw Ronon was there to, slouched against the back wall. _ Ok, feeling slightly awkward here. _She paused by the door.

"Have a seat." Dr. Weir motioned to the one empty chair in the room. _She must have practiced that smile…always looking relaxed when everyone else is definitely not._ She thought as she sat.

"Taryn, we believe that we many need your assistance with capturing our night time intruder to avoid having to alter key systems. The time that Rodney expects it to take could hamper the effectiveness of those alterations the intruder appears to soon. Now, Colonel Shepherd's team will be heading this operation, and John has requested that you assist." Taryn looked over at Col. Shepherd, eyebrows raised in question.

"Ok…?"

"Well, the thing is," Col. Shepherd spoke up, 'If you're going to be working closely with my team on this, I think they will need to know _exactly_ what you're bringing to the table."

"Ahh, ok." _They need to tell the team about my abilities. Meaning Ronon will know…_

"We just wanted to make sure that you were ok with that before telling them. The other teams won't necessarily know, but anyone that finds out will have clearance from me first." Dr. Weir said.

"Oh goodness, you're making it sound like you're about to tell them the secrets of the universe and that she'll implode if you do." Rodney said, irritated.

_I don't think he likes me very much…_

"Rodney!" Dr. Weir sounded appalled.

"Not that it isn't impressive…or unusual, it's actually quite fascinating. But you know that telling anyone in here won't harm her. In fact, most of Atlantis could know with no harm done."

"Of course there wouldn't be no harm done from them, but, for now, the fewer people who know about it, the easier it will be to contain the information. We don't want her hunted for it." _Dr. Weir has the patience of a saint._

"So, what is it that you feel we need to know? It isn't often that a member of the medical staff joins us in military operations, unless there are wounded." Teyla said. Ronon hadn't spoken at all, but Taryn noticed he was no longer slouching, but had moved closer.

_Between me and the door._ Great, now she was getting paranoid.

"Just about everyone knows that Taryn has a higher than normal level of the Ancient Gene, but not everyone knows why. We were contacted several weeks ago by an ascended ancient, who told us about Taryn. That ancient was her grandmother."

There was a slight pause before Ronon spoke up. "I thought the Ancients ascended thousands of years ago."

"They did." Dr. Weir affirmed.

"Then how is that possible?" Teyla asked this time.

"That ancient, Athwyn, was my mother's mother. My parents lived here in Atlantis, left with the others, and ascended with them as well. About 30 years ago, my parents discovered they could 'descend' back to human form and live out their lives on earth. When they did, they had me." Taryn said.

"What we also discovered from speaking with Athwyn, was that when an ascended being descended, they did not retain their powers. If two descended beings had children, however, they _did_." This came from Dr. Weir.

"What kind of powers?" Ronon asked. He had shifted closer to her chair, and she had the feeling it wasn't because he wanted to see what kind of perfume she was wearing.

"Do you want the full rundown?" She asked, looking to Dr. Weir to see if she should just spill it. At her nod, Taryn continued.

"I can move objects with my mind, blow things up and freeze them. I can teleport myself, and anything touching me. I can create an energy ball that is essentially a weapon, and I can sense the emotions of other….usually." She added that last bit thinking of Ronon. _Seriously, does he never let his guard down? That must be exhausting._

"That is quite impressive." Teyla said. Ronon, however, didn't say anything. He just stared at her as if she had grown a second head.

_As if I was a freak._ She thought bitterly. She had never been allowed to tell anyone on earth about her abilities, her 'gifts' as grams had called them. That hadn't bothered her much as she hadn't thought anyone on earth would understand or accept it. On Atlantis, however, she had half expected it to be different. These people interacted with Aliens on a regular basis…many on Atlantis, including Ronon, were technically 'aliens' themselves. She hadn't expected the judgment from them.

"Oh, remind me later to ask you about the energy ball thing. I've been curious to study that, it's totally outside of anything we've seen so far." Dr. McCay's voice broke her out of her melancholy train of thought.

"Yea, just let me know when and where." She muttered.

"Taryn, Col. Shepherd will brief you on our current plan to apprehend the intruder the next time he is detected. You will need to work with him as to how we were thinking you would be able to assist and if it is a viable use of your abilities. Ok Everyone?" She stood and lead the way out the door. Dr. McCay, Teyla, and Col. Shepherd were directly behind her and she stood up to follow them out. An arm blocked the door: Ronon's arm.

"What do you want?" She asked, not looking him in the face.

"I knew there was something _off_ about you. I don't know what your game is here, but I'll find out." His voice was low enough to sound scary as hell and yet be undetected by the others. She looked up at him in disbelief.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are, but what part of 'my parents were ancients, thus Atlantis was their home and I can help' did you not understand?" She hissed.

"If you try anything, I'll be watching."

"Listen," She lifted her hand and poked him in the chest. "You try anything me and I'll blow your balls off. Literally. I don't know what your problem is with me, but act on your ridiculous claims and I'll give you a firsthand demonstration of my more destructive abilities. Get over yourself, tough guy."

She had no problem sensing the anger emanating from him this time. She ducked under his arm and walked a little faster to catch up with the other. She might have the abnormal abilities in her favor, but seeing Ronon like that made her nervous. She just hoped she hadn't just made her first enemy at Atlantis.


	8. Chapter 8

_Ronon POV_

He had known there was something different about her. He could just tell: The way that she acted and how she was treated by the upper level people at Atlantis. Rodney watched her like she was his newest favorite lab experiment. Shepherd had been training her for off-world missions more than he had ever seen other doctors trained, and had given her free reign to unused Ancient labs. Her arrival hadn't been with a scheduled group of new recruits, she was the only one that had joined the expedition that day. And she had been wandering around Atlantis in the middle of the night. How did they know _she_ wasn't involved with their intruders?

He had watched her as she was telling the room about her abilities. She had looked hesitant, as if expecting rejection. _As if she had been rejected by others in the past_. He knew what that was like, but he had simply stopped caring what those that didn't understand him thought about him. He knew he had given the impression that he disliked her, but in reality he just didn't trust her yet. As much as Weir and Shepherd wanted to include her, thought that she could be an asset, he wasn't sure. She was young and inexperienced, and in his world that meant she was a liability. Her response to his warning had nearly made him laugh at its ridiculousness, but at least it showed that she had guts.

_Or no common sense. No, I wouldn't harm her, as much as she might now think. But her abilities could cause her to be hunted, exploited, and that could endanger the secrecy of Atlantis. That MUST be protected._

He would protect her, but only as it benefitted his new people. And then maybe he could get rid of the feeling that had been in him since he first saw her. The feeling that compelled him to watch over her and protect her.

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The plan seemed simple enough. To avoid the risk of losing 'the intruder' as he was now referred to, she would get as close as possible and freeze him. Then the Daedalus, who was currently cloaked and in orbit above the planet, would be able to beam him on board and from there into a holding cell in Atlantis. _I'll be watching…_What in the world had she done to make him so suspicious of her? The few people on Atlantis that had learned of her abilities before today had, while perhaps not understanding them completely, had accepted them. Accepted _her_. Except Ronon. She would prove him wrong, or at least do nothing to prove him right. It really shouldn't be bothering her, the fact that someone she barely knew felt that way about her, but it did.

"Dr. Smith, please report to the control room." She filed the paperwork she had been working on in the infirmary.

"Dr. Keller, I'm needed in the control room." Taryn stuck her head in Jennifer's office to let her know she would be stepping out. Jennifer looked up and nodded, clearly preoccupied with the file in front of her, and Taryn made her way to a transporter. _Back to the lion's den…at least if Ronon is there._

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... _

Ronon, Shepherd, Weir, and Teyla were already in Weir's office.

"Well, boys and girls, we are going to give it a go tonight." Shepherd announced.

"Do we know that the intruder will be back tonight?" Teyla asked.

"Based on when he was detected in the past, our analysts think that there is a good chance he will be back tonight or at least within the next couple days. If we can be waiting for him, our chances of getting him are that much better. So tonight, be in the control room at 0200 hours, we'll start the steak out. I'll bring the donuts."

"Dr. Smith, I've cleared your schedule for today and tomorrow with Dr. Keller so that in the event we need to continue the operation you won't be working the day shift and then up all night." Dr. Weir told her. Taryn just nodded. _I'm gonna be bored…_Not doing anything, or 'enjoying down time,' was not something she did well. She just got bored to easily.

"Ronon, since you both have the time today, why don't you and Doc start your hand to hand combat training today?" Taryn had to suppress the groan at Shepherd's suggestions, then wanted to smack Ronon for his next comment.

"Couldn't she just blow her opponent up?"

"Yes, why don't I practice that? You can be the target." She muttered. Teyla looked down and tried to hide her amusement, Dr. Weir looked suspiciously at them, and Shepherd just shook his head.

"Play nicely children. We'll see you back here at 0200 and let you know if anything happens before then. Dismissed."

"So, when do you want to meet up?" Taryn asked Ronon as they walked out of the room.

"1600, don't be late." And with that he walked off. _God that man in infuriating. _She thought. _So why does he have to be so dang cute._

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_

She made sure she was at the gym 5 minutes early. _No reason to give him any more reason not to like me._ And she was nervous. Sure, she was a black belt, but it had been years since she had seriously worked at the sport. Hopefully it would be like riding a bike.

"Ready?" His deep voice sounded from behind her. She was crouched by her gym bag, and turned on her heels to find herself inches away from him. _Akward_ _much?_ She stood slowly. "As ready as I'll ever be I guess."

"Shepherd said that you have hand to hand combat training?" He walked to the mat in the middle of the floor and turned, looking at her expectantly.

_Oh, yea, follow him you idiot. _"I do, but it's been years since I've been able to devote any real time to it. After I got into medical school I rarely had time away from school and work." She stood on the very edge of the mat, putting as much distance between them as she could without actually cowering against the wall. _Well, if he wants to kill me, now would be as good a time as any. I'll be a 'training accident.'_

He seemed to see the apprehension in her eyes and she could swear the hard glint in his own softened.

"Look, I'm not here to try to hurt you, just to see how well you could defend yourself, and then make you better. We'll start slow, I'll attack and you defend each move." He waited till she nodded, then moved closer.

He came at her slowly, using basic attack moved that were familiar to her. She blocked each one, trying to focus on his body language and motion and trying to remember her training from years before. After several moves, he stepped back and nodded.

"Good, very good. I'm going start increasing speed, intensity, push you a little." She was already breathing heavier than usual. _Good lord, start to bring it up? You mean that wasn't it?_

"Ok, bring it." She huffed her way through through those 3 words. _Good lord I need to do more than running. I need to start training again._

His offensive moves started coming quicker, with less time for her to recover. It was getting harder and harder to keep up. She blocked his arm sweeping around towards her, but failed to sidestep his foot that knocked her left foot out from under her.

OMPF! She landed on her back and her breath was knocked out of her for a moment.

"Good job, you kept up longer than I expected." She was surprised to hear something positive coming from Ronon. She took his offered hand and allowed him to pull her up.

"Thanks…like I said, it's been a while but it used to be my obsession. I've missed it."

"Then why did you stop?" Ronon gave her a minute to take a drink of water?

"First med school, then residency."

"What's residency?" She had forgotten he wasn't form earth, and even if they had the same thing on his planet, they probably called it something else.

"After you finish the schooling to become a doctor, you still have to do residency, which is basically on the job training for at least 4 years. Residents are overworked, underpaid doctors. I probably worked at least 80 hours a week during residency, sometime more. When I wasn't working, I was sleeping or studying." She set the water bottle down and walked back to the center of the mat. "More?" She asked, grinning.

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He hated to admit it, but she had done much better than he had expected. She was able to keep up to the same level as many of the new recruits who had been through the army's boot camp, even had different techniques than the soldiers. As they had continued with the training, it seemed like her confidence grew. Not that she hadn't ended up on her back consistently. She most definitely had, but she had been a good sport about it.

Her face had gotten more flushed as the session had gone on. Her hair, which had been pulled back, had started hanging in curly pieces around her face. He had started having trouble not being distracted by her, and she had landed a few blows. He had been impressed, and she had looked pleased with herself. He had felt drawn to her, still did. The more he learned, the more he had to admire her drive

_Not that it changes anything_. They had trained for a couple hours, stopping only when they both realized neither had eaten in several hours and it was affecting their energy levels.

He had showered and was heading to the mess. Taryn was still invading his thoughts. _Must be the lack of food. Has to be._

His earpiece sounded. He turned and headed towards the control room at Shepherd's request.

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She had showered and was about to head to get food when her ear piece beeped.

"Dr. Smith, please report to the control room asap." Shepherd's voice sounded in her ear. "Looks like we have company and we're going to be moving out plan up by several hours."

She tapped the earpiece to reply as she ran out her door. "I'm on my way."

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"OK, how did we end up here again?" Taryn asked under her breath. She was currently on a lower level balcony with Ronon waiting for the go order from Col. Shepherd. It wasn't a nice calm evening outside the city tonight. It was cold and windy, and being closer to the water meant there was a constant spray of the cold ocean water.

"What, are you cold or something?" Ronon asked tauntingly.

"What, me? Cold? Nah. I enjoy it." She gave him an overly enthusiastic smile and tried not to shiver. The intruder had been detected below the surface, making his way around to the area directly below them. "Although, I wouldn't mind if he hurried up." Ronon laughed. He actually laughed. She glared at him. _At least we're starting to get along, kinda. _She thought.

"Ok, he should be about 15 feet south of you, he's moving slowly in your direction. Very slowly." McCay's voice came through their coms. Taryn, crouched low to the ground beside the banister to avoid being seen incase their swimming friend looked up, scanned the water. She could see him, but the feeling she had had before was back.

"'He's there, ready?" She whispered. At Shepherd's affirmative, she reached her hand out and froze him. At least she thought she got him.

"He's stopped moving. Perfect." McCay confirmed. "Daedalus, you have a go to beam him aboard."

Taryn waited, but nothing happened.

"Atlantis, we seem to be having some technical difficulties. The controls for the beaming technology have been undergoing some updates and apparently the long range beaming capabilities were impacted. We are working on it, just give us a few minutes." She assumed that voice was from the ship in orbit above them.

"Taryn," Shepherd's voice, "How long can you keep him there?"

"Should be able to as long as you need. It won't last indefinitely, but I can keep refreezing him." She said.

"Well, wait a minute. Can't she just use her fancy abilities and go and get him?" McCay asked? There was a brief pause, then Shepherd spoke.

"Daedalus, what's the ETA on the that repair?"

"No ETA, but we're working on it as fast as we can Colonel."

The thought of orbing down into the freezing water wasn't appealing. Neither was the thought of exposing her abilities to that many more people.

"Taryn, it's your call. You should know there are a limited number of people involved in this op so exposure isn't an issue. Would you be able to bring him back to the balcony, and Ronon can take him from there?" Shepherd asked.

She nodded, and then remembered he couldn't see her. "Yes sir. That I can do." She slipped her watch off and turned to hand it to Ronon. "This isn't waterproof, can you hang on to it for me?"

"Uh, sure. You eyes…do they always do that?" He asked, noticing their different colors for the first time.

"Yea, when I'm using my abilities. Alright, I'll be back…and then he's all yours." She turned back and scanned the water one last time. She couldn't see exactly where he was, but had a general idea of the area.

_This is going to be cold..._But nothing could have prepared her for exactly how frigid the water was. There wasn't an impact since she had transported directly into the water, but the sheer drop in temperatures took her breath away. She gasped in a breath, and coughed when that made her inhale some of the seawater. Wiping her eyes as she kicked to stay above the ice cold water, she turned to get her bearings. She was about 15 feet from the edge of the city, the waves lapping up against the walls rolling her from side to side. _Ok, the city is behind me._ She turned scanned the water. _There she is. _

"Taryn, how's it going down there? Are you ok?" Shepherd's voice sounded in her ear.

"Oh yea, peachy. I mean, this water isn't cold at all." _I wonder if they can hear me through the chattering teeth?_

"Yes yes, can you get to him?" McCay asked.

"Yes, I'm working on it." It was much darker than she was expecting, and without any water gear her efforts were going in to staying above the waves and breathing.

"He's by the wall, directly to your left. And he's moving again south again."

_Damn it, when I orbed it must have released him. And it's COLD. _She moved a little closer to the wall and to her left. She felt movement to her left and instinctively froze that area. And…nothing. There was no movement, no sound. She moved a little closer, was lifted up over a wave, and was inched from the frozen intruder. He was dressed in what looked like typical scuba gear from head to toe, and oxygen tank on his back.

"I've got him. Ronon, I'm coming back your way." She reached out to get a hand on his shoulder and orbed as soon as she felt contact.

There was a security detail and a medical team waiting just inside the balcony doors for them. Water washed off of her and the intruder's bodies and off the balcony floor. She heard Ronon move forward and restrain the now struggling intruder, and pushed herself up off the floor. She needed to get out of the cold wet clothes before she got sick. Hands grasped each arm and lifted her to her feet.

"Nice job, Doc. You ok?" She was almost surprised to hear Ronon's voice. She would have figured he had gone with the security guard and prisoner. His hands were so warm against her cold skin. _I bet the rest of him is warm to…_she caught herself from leaning into him. Instead she just nodded.

"Yea, I'm ok. Just cold. I wasn't expecting it to be that cold." Shivers were not wracking her body. He wrapped a warm blanket around her and turned her toward the door. Jennifer was waiting for her inside.

"Alright, your lips are turning blue. Let's get you warmed up." Jennifer motioned for her to get on the gurney they had waiting.

"I can walk." Taryn protested.

"You could also leave a wet trail from here to the infirmary to, but we're not going to do that." Jennifer replied. Ronon's hands, still on her shoulders, pushed her gently towards the gurney.

"Fine." She muttered, sitting on the gurney and shivering, her chattering teeth now audible.

"You know, whoever said doctors made the worst patients must have met you as some point." Jennifer teased. As the gurney rolled away from the balcony, Taryn looked back to see Ronon still standing there just watching them roll away. _Watching me._ She thought, a school-girl giddy feeling fluttered in her stomach. _Yea…I'm in trouble._


	9. Chapter 9

Ch. 9

_Hmm…who would have thought? _ Taryn had gotten to the infirmary to start her scheduled shift a early and had found Jennifer tending to wounds Major Lorne had suffered while sparing with Ronon. Apparently, when he wasn't training civilian women, Ronon didn't go easy. He landed blows. _Real life training I guess_. But what was interesting was watching the interaction between the Major and Jennifer. He could barely keep his eyes off her while she was moving around the bed and tending to him. She would glance up at him, catch his gaze, and then look away and blush. _It's so obvious, but I wonder if they even realize what's happening?_ The Major was definitely a looker, and a good man from all accounts. He had been part of the original expedition to Atlantis and was Col. Shepherd's second in command. She made herself scarce while they were finishing up, organizing the already alphabetical medicine cabinet to appear busy until he left.

"Hey Doc." He said, nodding in her direction as we walked past her and out the door. She turned to Jen as he walked out the door, and found her staring at the door the Major had just walked out of.

"Ok, what was that all about?" Taryn asked. In the time that she had spent in Atlantis, Jennifer Keller was the one person she felt she had connected with.

"What was what about?" Jen was suddenly busy cleaning that bed and sanitizing the area for the next patient.

"Uh, _that_. You and Major Lorne." Taryn noticed the flush starting at Jen's neck and working its way up.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jen refused to look at her. "There's nothing going on. We're just friends, more like acquaintances really."

"Sure, if that's what you're going with." Taryn chuckled. "But I don't have many friends that watch me like he was watching you. He could barely take his eyes off you." Jen stopped fussing around the bed and looked at her.

"Really?" Taryn just nodded, and Jen grinned.

"I am so bad reading signals from guys…and I never know what to say to them. But Evan, Major Lorne, it's twice as bad with him." Jen sat on the bed se had just cleaned.

"Because you like him, maybe?" Taryn teased. Jen just nodded.

"Yea…that's probably why. I mean, he's just, I mean look at him. Guys like that have never been into me. Most of the guys I knew on earth were sleazy residents trying to get lucky, or pigheaded doctors that thought they were God's gift to women." Taryn laughed, that summed up just about every guy she had dealt with in med school and at the hospital. There were good ones, but they were few and far between.

"Sounds like you just described most guys I met in LA. But seriously, any guy _not_ into you must be blind, or stupid, or both. And it looks like the good Major is neither."

"Yea…" Jen sighed dreamily.

"Look at you, you're like, giddy, when you think about him." Taryn laughed and then ducked when Jen threw the cloth she had been cleaning with at her.

"What about you? Did you leave anyone special back on Earth?" Jen asked her.

Taryn shook her head. "No. Between work and, well, work was pretty much it, I didn't really have time to go out and meet anyone. And you know what it's like at the hospital."

"Oh yea, I'd rather not remember those days." Jen laughed.

"Well, between that, and then having to worry about being able to tell someone about my more, uh, unusual qualities, I just never found someone worth taking that risk for."

"I can see how that would add some complication to it. 'Hi honey, how was your day? Oh by the way, did I mention my parents were born thousands of years ago in another galaxy and I have superpowers?'"

"Exactly! I mean, not exactly your run of the mill 'get to know each other' facts to bring up on the first date, right? So yea, needless to say there isn't anyone waiting for me back on Earth." Taryn moved back to the supply cabinet to take inventory. "And it still feels so strange to be saying that, 'back on Earth.'"

"Hey, do you have any plans tonight?" Jen asked

"I don't think so, why? Do you need me to cover a shift?" It was the only thing she could think of as to why Jen would have asked her that.

"No no, it's movie night tonight and I thought you might want to come."

"Movie night? Where's that?"

"It started as a weekly tradition with Col. Shepherd's team, Ronon and Teyla wanted to see these movies John kept referring to. There are more of us that go now, usually a weekly thing but it depends on who is off world at the time."

_Col. Shepherd's team…so Ronon will be there._ "If you don't think they would mind me coming with you."

"Of course they wouldn't mind! Besides, there are only a couple other girls that go, we're badly outnumbered, and that way you can meet some more people." Jen said. "If you want, meet me at the transporter outside the mess hall at 5 and I'll show you where it is."

"So, will _Evan_ be there tonight then?" Taryn teases, and then just chuckled at the flush that instantly appeared on Jen's face.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

She was nervous about movie night. Nervous all social skills would leave her brain as soon as she got there, nervous that her first real attempt at socializing outside of work settings would be a complete flop. _At least Jen will be there…if she isn't too preoccupied with Evan_. Watching the two of them and seeing how obvious it was that they each had a thing for the other, and knowing that they hadn't actually made the first step of letting each other know how they felt, was so funny.

It almost felt strange being out of her SGA issued base uniform and in 'civilian clothing' again. The dark wash jeans, white tank top, and dark purple zip-up hoodie she had finally unpacked to wear felt like an old friend she hadn't seen in ages. While she had had scheduled time off in the weeks since she had been there, the time had been spent training or she had been called in for emergency assistance. Scheduled time off was, in reality, 24/7 call duty. Since the intruder had been capture the evening before she hadn't taken the day off as Dr. Weir had initially planned, since she knew Jen would have been the one to work a double to cover her shift.

She thought she was early, but Jen was waiting for her outside the mess hall when she exited the transporter near the entrance.

"So, do we need to bring anything? Food, drinks, whatever?" Taryn asked, although she wasn't sure what she would bring or where she would get it if the answer was yes.

"Nah, the guys usually bring beer, Lt. Cadman, who you'll meet her there, usually brings popcorn. You don't have to bring anything; you can if you want next time. Come on, it's this way."

She followed Jen down the hallways, trying to make note of any landmarks so she would hopefully be able to find her way again. _If I'm invited back again, that is. _For all she knew this one would be the one and only time she was invited to 'movie night.' She hadn't noticed how tall and slim Jen was until now. Base clothing and lab coats hid body shape well, but the black yoga pants and t-shirt she was wearing tonight did nothing to hide her shape.

As much as Taryn had worked to not compare herself to other women, it was hard when someone who was everything you weren't (and wanted to be) was right there. Jen was a good 4 inches taller than Taryn. Jen was slim, willowy like a ballerina, and Taryn was, well, not. She was in shape, she ran and worked out and considered herself to be 'athletic,' but her build would never be 'slim.'

_Snap out of it._ Taryn gave herself a mental shake.

"Here we are. Look," Jen paused outside the door and turned to her. "I tend to become a blithering idiot when I'm around guys that I'm interested it. If Evan is here, and I start making an absolute fool of myself, just, I dunno, throw a pillow at me, ok?"

Taryn just grinned. "But it would be so much more fun to just watch it all happen." Jen waved the door open at that point. Whoever happened to be watching them would have seen Taryn laughing and Jen smacking her arm, trying to hold laughter back.

"Hiya, fair Doctors." John was walking towards a couch, beer in hand. Taryn took a quick inventory of people present in the room. Evan and Ronon playing a game of darts on one side of the room. Teyla and another woman that Taryn hadn't met yet were talking, sitting on one of the couches situated in front of the television, and Rodney McKay and Dr. Zelenka were arguing about the correct way to go about drawing additional from the ZPM without depleting it any quicker. Or something to that extent.

"Teyla, I think you've already met Taryn. Taryn, this is Laura Cadmam, I don't think you two have met before." Jen and Taryn settled on couches on either side, claiming seats for the movie.

"What do you do around here, Laura?" Small talk was never one of Taryn's specialties.

"I blow stuff up!" It was amusing how excited Laura was about it too.

"Laura is a weapons and explosives expert in the Marines." Jen offered in explanation.

"That sounds…exciting." Taryn laughed.

"Oh yea, never a dull moment. When they're letting me blow stuff up that is."

"What's the most exciting thing you've blown up?" Taryn asked

"A tank. Seriously, might not have the biggest boom, but they're so dang hard to penetrate that when you do it just right the whole thing gets air born."

"You do realize that once you get her to start talking about explosives, she won't stop voluntarily, right?" Evan walked over at that point and flopped into the empty seat next to Jen, slightly crowding her space. Taryn noted the blush slowly creeping up Jen's neck, but also the fact that she didn't shift away or try to create more space between them. _It's only a matter of time..._

She was not even slightly prepared for Ronon deciding to occupy the space next to hers. She hadn't noticed that John, McKay, and Zelenka had taken the other available seats and that the other space in the 2 seater couch she had chosen was the only open space left. _He could have chosen the floor…_And, following his usually course of action, he hadn't said anything to her yet. _Real shocker._

"So, what movie are we watching anyways?" McKay asked. The look on his face when John mentioned the movie was Texas Chain Saw Massacre was priceless. "Don't we have enough terror and scariness every day? Who picked the movie tonight?"

"I did." Taryn was surprised to hear that from Ronon. "Shepherd said it's a classic." Shepherd grinned.

"And it is." He said, opening another beer. Taryn had seen the movie once, but hated scary movies. As much as she could tell herself they weren't real, they'd still keep her up at night. _Awesome, I can sense a 3 am walkabout coming on already._ The way the couches were situated, Ronon was between her and the TV, so she had to angel herself to face his direction or her neck would be cramped in before the previews were over. It was a convenient opportunity to be able to watch him inconspicuously. If she wanted to. Which she did. He had caught her looking at him more times than she cared to admit, but she couldn't help herself. He was too damn distracting. And this movie was too damn scary.

Right about the third shriek inducing scene of the movie, Taryn noticed that Jen and Evan had managed to move even closer together, if that was possible. Jen's currently had fistful of Evan's shirt and didn't look like she would be letting go anytime soon. Even Teyla looked unsettled by the movie at this point…and there was still about an hour to go.

She had spotted some bottles of water in a cooler when she had gotten to the room. "Ronon, do you want some water or a beer?" She whispered when she stood. Might as well be the one to extend a friendly hand. If he had noticed her observing him on and off throughout the movie he hadn't acknowledged it at all, much less acknowledge they had been sharing a seat. At her whisper, he finally turned to look at her.

"A beer, thanks." She was surprised he had actually spoken back at her.

… … … … … … … … …

(Ronon POV)

She had been watching him since the movie started. He hadn't turned to prove it, but he could tell that she had been watching him instead of the movie. It was unnerving, and her offer to get him a drink came as a welcome break from her observation. Usually he didn't mind the attention that women tended to give him, but with Taryn it was…different. Maybe it was because she was different.

He turned to watch her take a water bottle and a can of beer out of the cooler and wipe the condensation from the ice off. She must have cut her finger on a sharp edge on the can, her hand let go of her open water bottle a and swear under her breath. Then she seemed to notice for the first time her bottle falling to the ground, waved her hand, and it stopped moving. As she reached down to pick it up, she glanced around to see if anyone was watching her, and saw him observing her.

_Good, let her see. _He thought, not looking away. She straightened up, bottle in hand, and kept eye contact. _Interesting. _ He knew she had guts and now knew she had attitude to go with it. He glanced around the room to see if anyone else had seen her use of abilities, but everyone else was either asleep or glued to the TV. When he looked back at her, he almost laughed out loud. She had said she ahd the ability to move things with her mind, and she currently had the now closed water bottle and his unopened can of beer floating in the air going around in circles in front of her. Her arms were crossed and she was just grinning at him. _Attitude is right. _Now he couldn't help but grin, and turned back to the TV before he gave into the urge to laugh.

… … … … … … … … …

It might have been the first time she had actually seen a genuine smile on his face, albeit just a grin. _It's strangely satisfying…and why do I now feel like I just won a battle?_ Taryn thought as she went and sat back down, handing him the beer. Her thumb had managed to catch the one piece of sharp metal in the cooler and slice open. Not deep enough to need stitches or any real attention, but enough to be as annoying as hell. And to produce blood. She stuck her thumb in her mouth like she did when she was a little girl and had a cut on a finger. Ronon reached out and gently grasped the wrist of her 'injured' hand, pulling her finger out of her mouth and towards him. He had a piece of cloth, just long enough to wrap around her thumb a couple times and secure tightly enough to add a little pressure to the cut. She was to shocked to pull away, and just watched him wrap her finger. _What the…what had gotten into him? First ignore me, then threaten me, then…this? And what is this? Cause right now he's looking so damn sexy…_

When he finished securing the makeshift bandage, he didn't let go of his grasp on her wrist right away, but simply looked at her. And she just looked back.

"Uh, thank you…" She whispered when her brain kicked back in. He set her wrist back on her own lap, nodded ever so slightly, and then just turned back towards the TV. She glanced around the room and found Teyla watching them, a small smile on her face. She looked down at her hand, at the makeshift bandage Ronon had put on there. _And they say women are the confusing gender. Right…_

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

The next day Taryn knew Teyla hadn't been the only one that had seen the exchange between herself and Ronon the evening before. She had barely walked into the room when Jen grabbed her arm and pulled her into her.

"You've been holding out on me!" Jen exclaimed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Taryn said, a sinking feeling in her stomach telling her that it was about her…and Ronon.

"I'm talking about whatever is going on between you and Ronon. Whatever it was, it looked intense last night."

"Right, us? What about you and Major Lorne? You were practically in his lap after the opening scene, and he wasn't complaining to loudly. Or at all for that matter. Have you two talked about it at all?" Taryn crossed her mental fingers that Jen would take the bait and change the subject.

"No, he wasn't complaining to badly, was he? But don't try to change the subject. What's going on with you to?"

Taryn moved farther into the office and sat on the edge of the desk.

"Honestly, nothing. At least that I know of. I mean, he hardly talks to me other than to warn me that he's watching me. Whatever that means."

"What? He threatened you? When?" Jen looked alarmed at that.

"He just doesn't trust me. He didn't before he knew of what I can do because of my parents, and doesn't even more now. So whatever last night was, I don't know what he was thinking." And it was driving her crazy.

"So, how do you feel about him? I mean, I know you haven't been here long, but first impressions?" Jen wasn't giving up.

"I honestly don't know. I mean, yea, he's hot, no one could deny that. And from all accounts he's a good guy. But if someone doesn't trust me there isn't any reason to think anything could happen. And that's when I stop thinking about it because it will lead no where but hurt." Taryn stood up. "And even though I haven't been here long, I've been here long enough to get behind on paperwork, so I'm going to get started on that early." She walked out of the office and nearly ran into Ronon.

_I have GOT to stop doing that_. She thought, muttering something under her breath that hopefully at least sounded somewhat like 'excuse me' and stepped aside to let him continue into Jen's office.

"Oh, Ronon." She turned back to him, reached into her pocket, and pulled out the piece of cloth he had used the night before. She had washed it and managed to get most of the blood out when she had gotten back to her quarters the night before. "Here you go. Thank you for that. I think I got most of the blood out but if you want me to try to wash it more I can." She realized she was on the verge of blabbing incoherently and stopped herself. "Anyways, thank you." She waited until he took hold of the strip of cloth and then turned and rushed out of the room, not seeing how Ronon watched her until she was out of sight.

_She is starting to get under my skin. _He thought as he turned and continued to Jen's office.


	10. Chapter 10

Ch. 10

_Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…Beep…_

_What's that noise? My alarm clock? What time is it? Oh no, am I late for work? No, not my alarm…a heart monitor? Why would there by a heart monitor in my room? _The beeping sound annoying, but Taryn could seems to make herself open her eyes to see where she was and what was going on. Maybe she could talk…

"Hello?" She tried to call out, but even to her own ears it sounded more like a weak groan. _What happened to me?_ She thought, mentally checking for pain but not finding any.

"Taryn? Can you hear me? Hey, doc, it she moved and made a noise." A male voice first spoke to her and then called across the room. _Who is that? I feel like I should recognize that voice._ Then a voice she clearly recognized as Jennifer's spoke.

"Taryn, can you hear me?" She felt a finger life her eyelid and a bright light shone in her left eye. Then it repeated in her right. "Come on, girl, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can." Taryn concentrated everything she had on squeezing the hand that slipped into her left one.

"Good girl! Come on, now, open your eyes."

"I'll go let Dr. Weir and Sheppard know she's awake." The owner of the man's voice said. _Wait, who are you? _ She wanted to ask, but couldn't. _Come on, Taryn, just open your eyes._ She concentrated on that usually mindless motion, and slowly started to see hazy light. The fuzzy light slowly started becoming sharper, and she could make out the image of someone, presumably Jennifer, standing by her bed in her line of vision.

"Thanks for joining us in the land of the conscious again, Taryn." Jennifer smiled as she checked numbers on the monitor next to the bed. Taryn blinked, trying to get her vision more in focus. Slowly, but surely, the outlines she could see were turning from shadows into images again. "How are you feeling? Can you talk?" Taryn opened her mouth to give it a shot, but was beyond frustrated when nothing came out. "It's ok, don't strain yourself. It will come in time. Are you in pain at all?" Taryn managed a small shake of her head, still beyond frustrated that she was unable to speak.

"Well, look who decided her long nap was over!' Sheppard said as he, Dr. Weir, and Ronon walked into the room. _It wasn't Sheppard I heard before. _ She thought.

"How are you feeling?" Dr. Weir laid a hand on her shoulder as she asked the question.

"She hasn't been able to speak yet, but indicated she isn't in any pain. Vitals look good, steady and strong." Jennifer said. Taryn decided to give speaking another go, and this time managed to get a few words out.

"How long?" It was barely a whisper, but a vast improvement over what she had managed so far.

"How long have you been unconscious?" Jennifer clarified, and Taryn nodded.

"4 days." Ronon spoke this time. _It was his voice I heard before…why was he sitting with me?_ Taryn realized with a start, her focus shifting to him. Then, what he has said sunk in. _4 days! What had happened? _She wracked her memory, but was drawing a blank.

"What…?" The energy she had to put into speaking was tiring her out more than anything.

"Do you remember anything that happened? The prisoner escaping? The bomb in the gate room?" Sheppard asked. Taryn shook her head.

"We'll explain in due time. You have been unconscious for 4 days, and we had no way of knowing how long that would last or why it was even happening."

"Or how you were even alive after what happened." Ronon said, still standing the farthest away at the foot of the bed.

_I should be dead? _Taryn thought, fighting the feeling of being pulled back into the unconscious state of sleep that she had apparently been in for the last several days.

"Sleep Taryn, you obviously still need rest. You'll wake up when you're ready, I promise." Jennifer laid a cool hand on her forehead. Taryn gave in, her eyes sliding shut, the last image in her mind was Ronon standing at the foot of her bed. _He looks worried…_

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"_**NO!" Taryn struggled to push past the group of guards standing around the Stargate level of the control room. There was a man standing about 10 feet from the Stargate platform, holding a brick of C4 in each hand. It was the intruder, she realized, the man she had helped capture. And he was about to destroy the control room, killing dozens of people in the process. Col. Sheppard was walking towards him, unarmed, hands raised in front of him in a calming gesture. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but her best guess was that he was trying to talk the man off the ledge, figuratively speaking. And the intruder wasn't buying it. She saw his left hand close over the detonator and knew she had to do something. No one would be able to stop him. She couldn't stop him. But she could keep the others from dying. **_

_**Frantically, realizing there was no way she was getting past the wall of military shoulders in front of her, she orbed to the other side of the men. Before they could stop her, she ran as fast as she could towards the intruder. His left thumb settled on the switch and began to squeeze. She was seeing it as if in slow motion. Sheppard realized the intruder was going to set off the explosive, turned, and started to shout at the men to clear the room. They wouldn't get out in time. Then he seemed to notice her running towards the man and shouted at her to get out. She ducked by him, her focus on the man's thumb. **_

_**5….4…..3….2….She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his torso. He barely budged, but she didn't need to knock him over, she only needed contact. 1…She could only pray she the self-generated force field she generated would be strong enough to contain the blast.**_

Taryn jolted awake, gasping for breath. She could feel the heat of the blast on her face still. She lifted her hand to her face, but didn't feel any burns. In fact, she didn't feel any pain. _But I can move again_. The memories of her last, brief stint with consciousness came back: She hadn't been able to talk, barely able to move. This time she seemed to be able to move easily. _How long was I out this time?_ She thought. _Can I sit up?_ _Well, never know till you try._ Carefully, she tested it out and was able to sit up. She carefully swung her legs over the edge of the of the hospital bed and stood. She felt fine. Normal. _Maybe it's the who-knows-how-long nap I've taken._

"Hey, what are you doing out of bed? And, wait, you're awake!" Jennifer pulled the curtain back from beside her bed, a scolding look on her face.

"Hello to you to. How long was I out this time?" Taryn sat back down on the bed.

"Only 2 days since your last awakening. How are you feeling? Stronger, I see." Jennifer was checking her vitals on the monitor Taryn was hooked up to.

"I'm feeling great. I just had the strangest dream though, something about a guy in the control room trying to blow it up. The intruder." Taryn studied Jennifer's reaction, but she only kept her face deliberately neutral.

"Oh really?" Jennifer said, in an unnaturally calm voice.

"It wasn't a dream, was it? Is that what happened?" Taryn asked.

"I think it's to soon for you to…"

"What, for me to know why I've been unconscious for 6 days? And with barely any memory of what happened? Just tell me." Taryn said.

"Look, I think it would be better for Col. Sheppard or Dr. Weir to give you the details. But, no, that wasn't just a dream. You saved a lot of lives that day, and we didn't know if you were going to make it, or how you survived. But you did, that's what matters." Jennifer said.

"So, since you've said I'm ok and feel fine, can I go back to my room and resume duties?" Taryn asked? "Or have a couple days off while actually awake?" She grinned at the last sentence, knowing how unlikely it was.

"There's no reason for you to stay here, all your vital signs are good, strong. Still though, I want you to let me know if _anything_ seems wrong. And as for the days off, I'd rather you be here so I can keep an eye on you anyways." Jennifer grinned.

"Thank you!" Taryn wanted to hug her, but the pull of the IV still attached to her halted her action.

"Taryn, there's one more thing you should know." Jennifer sounded serious.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

Well, her 'secret' was out. Everyone that had been in the control room at the time of the explosion knew. And once that many people knew it was it silly to think it hadn't spread around the entire base. They might not know the extent of her abilities, but they knew enough. Jennifer warned her that people, at least the Atlantis grape vine, had talked of little else in the last week. And apparently, while she had been unconscious, Rodney had run tests on her brain activity and blood samples. 'Only to try to find something that could help' Jennifer had said. Taryn believed her, but that didn't mean she was happy about being tested while unaware. It felt like a personal violation.

"I'll inform Dr. Weir that you've been discharged and cleared for active duty." Jennifer had said as she was discharging her. "Rest for today, you can resume your regular schedule tomorrow." No doubt there would be a meeting with Dr. Weir in the near future. Fun. Until then, sleep. Strangely enough, even though she had been sleeping for the last 6 days, she was worn out.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"_**So have you always had your abilities?" Ronon asked her during a rare 5 minute break in their training session. She still didn't understand why, but since movie night Ronon had acted…differently towards her. Almost civil, actually.**_

"_**Technically, yes, but I haven't always had the ability to control them. It would be totally random." **_

"_**Did anyone back on earth know about them?" **_

"_**No, I never told anyone. My parents and grandmother were the only ones. Who knows, there might be others like me on earth, but they are probably as secretive as I am about it so I'll probably never know." She took another swig of water and walked back to the mat." The way Ronon was watching her was unnerving her, but she was starting to get used to that feeling. **_

"_**We have something in common then." He said, moving to stand only a few feet in front of her.**_

"_**Oh really? What's that?" She assumed a defensive position. It was nearing the end of their training session and her fatigue was starting to set in. If she wasn't careful, she would end up on her back on the floor in seconds. Although, the thought of Ronon being the one over her wasn't necessarily unappealing. **_

"_**As far as we know, we're both the last of our kind." And with that he, training resumed.**_

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Taryn, do you copy?" The voice coming through the intercom at her door jolted her out of her sleep just before dream Ronon landed his first offensive hit. She sat straight up with a gasp and soon realized how close to the edge of the bed she was when she slid off and landed on the floor with a _**thud**_. She scrambled to her feet and walked to open the door.

"Col. Sheppard." She was surprised to find him the one standing outside her door.

"Well, it's nice to see you out of bed for a change." He grinned.

"Next time I decide to take a 6 day nap, please feel free to wake me up." She laughed, stepping aside to let him enter her room.

"Last time you woke, Dr. Keller told us you indicated you couldn't remember what happened. Have you started remembering anything?" He stepped inside far enough to let the door shut.

"I think so, like, flashes here and there, in dreams. It's still fuzzy though. Something about the intruder trying to blow up the control room. Not much before that, though. The last thing I clearly remember is sparing with Ronon, the same day as the explosion but a couple hours before." She said.

"Well, I just want to make sure you know the facts of what happened and what people now know. You saved a lot of lives that day, and now a lot more people know you have abilities. Pretty much the entire base knows now, although they don't know the full extent. But, a fairly new, non-military member of the expedition doing something like that doesn't happen every day, so be prepared. And if you need anything, let me know." He said.

"So…Jennifer said Rodney was taking some readings while I was out. Do you know if he found anything? Any reason I'm still alive, or was out for so long?" Taryn asked.

"No, but I'll show you the way to his lab if you want. You can ask him yourself, I'm sure he'd be thrilled."

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …

She had opted not to venture to Rodney's office quite yet, but the hours, no, days of sleep were catching up with her. She was feeling restless. Even she knew that attempting physical exertion right away was probably not the best of ideas, but orbing to a fairly remote location of the city with her sketchbook sounded refreshing. She checked out the citywide map on the tablet, picked a powered section of the city that would likely have access to a balcony, and orbed.

Apparently, balconies were fairly sparse on the side of the city she had chosen, at least those that were within the used city limits. The décor looked about the same, as it did throughout Atlantis. Apparently her ancestors liked consistency. Or lacked decorating skills. _Or both. _She thought. Finally, there was a balcony that had a decent view. It wasn't very big, but it was large enough to sit out there and draw. She sat with her back against the wall, the large sketch pad propped up against her knees. She studied the view in front of her: a massive expanse of ocean, awe inspiring cloud formations, and far off mountains. Add the sound of the ocean waves and she was in heaven.

_And actually, you quite possibly could be right now. How in the world did I survive that blast? And why is my memory so fragmented?_ She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. _Maybe if I think realllllllly hard I'll remember something. I mean, that dream about sparing with Ronon, it almost seemed like we were having a normal conversation. Was that long before the blast? How far back is my memory affected? _ It was frustrating her to no end. The sound of the ocean was calming. She wasn't sleeping, but it was as if flashes of memory were coming to her.

"_**You know, people are going to find out some day." Ronon said, watching her as she waiting for him to make the first move on the mat.**_

"_**What do you mean?" She asked, wondering where this chatty side of Ronon had come from. **_

"_**Your abilities. All it would take is one person seeing who wasn't supposed to, and it would spread around pretty quickly." His left arm swung around towards her, easily blocked by her right arm sweeping it away from her body.**_

"_**True, but then, that's not up to me, now is it? Dr. Weir is the one that prefers it to be kept under wraps." Tired of waiting, moved in with a right side body shot. He dodged to the side, catching her arm and deftly twisting it behind her back. Her back was pressed against him, and she couldn't move hardly an inch without snapping her arm.**_

"_**But I think that's a wise plan. There are a lot of people in this galaxy that would try to use them, abuse them. Least of all the Wraith." He let her arm go and stepped back. Not missing a beat, she dropped down and swung her leg under his behind his knees. With him, surprise was her one advantage. He landed on his back with an OOOMPH! Before he could get up, she straddled his chest and held his arms down. She knew he could have gotten her off of him if he wanted to. But he didn't move. Interesting.**_

"_**I've heard about the Wraith. My parents and grandmother told me about them. They were like the monster in the movies to me, but I never imaged the race still existed." **_

"_**When I was growing up, the stories told of them were that they were the monster that you hoped never came, but always did." Ronon said quietly. Taryn let go of his arms and slid to the mat.**_

"_**I haven't heard much, but I've heard some of how the Wraith destroyed your home world. I am so sorry. I know what it is to lose everything, but I have no idea what you've gone through." She said quietly. Her water bottle was across the room, but she didn't feel like dragging her body across the room. She held her hand out, and heard Ronon chuckle as it floated across the room to her. She took a sip before looking at him again.**_

"_**I know my abilities could be used against me, that people could try to exploit them. I have no problem complying with Dr. Weir's wishes on that. I also know it could make people look at me and treat me differently. I don't want to be defined by them. I just want to use them to help." **_

_**Ronon was sitting up by this point. It looked like he was about to say something, but an alarm suddenly started to go off. They both jumped up off the mat and ran towards the door. **_

" _**What is that?" Taryn shouted to be heard.**_

"_**It sounds like the self destruct, but nothing has happened." He said. Then he tapped his ear piece. "Sheppard, come in. Sheppard, what's going on?" He shouted into the com. He paused for a minute, listening, then confirmed the information. Without saying anything, he started running to a transporter. Taryn followed.**_

"_**What's going on?" She asked. **_

"_**Problem in the control room. Hard to hear with the alarm, but something about someone trying to blow it up." **_

"_**I can get us there faster." She said. He stopped and turned. **_

"_**How?" He asked. She grinned and held out her hand. **_

"_**Just hold my hand." He looked weary, but grasped her hand.**_

"How are we…" His sentence was cut off as she orbed to the hallway right outside the control room.

"Here we are." She said, as he blinked in surprise, looking around.

"_**That's awesome." He said, then walked towards the door to the control room. She followed, being careful to stay behind him. Peering around his arm, she saw the guy that she had helped capture from the water standing at the bottom of the ramp in front of the gate. Holding bricks of C4. He was surrounded by military, but he was threatening to blow the place if they moved, so they weren't trying to subdue him.**_

"_**Look, just put down the C4 and we can talk." Sheppard was walking towards the man, hands out in a calming manner.**_

"_**No." **_

"_**I'm sure we can work something out. Just tell us what you want."**_

_**This time he gave no response.**_

"_**He's not going to stop." Taryn whispered, feeling the waves of rage rolling off the man. She moved to go around Ronon, but he grasped her arm and pulled her back. **_

"_**Stay back, if that goes off you need to be out of here." He said, pulling her behind him again. **_

"_**Col. Sheppard isn't going to be able to stop him. I need to do something." She said, jerking her arm from his grasp.**_

"_**Can't you freeze him or something?" **_

"_**I tried, it's only slowing him down, and I don't know why. But I can stop him." Ronon reached for her again, but she ducked around the person in front of them, avoiding Ronon trying to stop her, only to be blocked by the wall of soldiers that were surrounding the man. **_

_**NO!" Taryn struggled to push past the group of guards standing around the Stargate level of the control room. There was a man standing about 10 feet from the Stargate platform, holding a brick of C4 in each hand. It was the intruder, she realized, the man she had helped capture. And he was about to destroy the control room, killing dozens of people in the process. Col. Sheppard was walking towards him, unarmed, hands raised in front of him in a calming gesture. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but her best guess was that he was trying to talk the man off the ledge, figuratively speaking. And the intruder wasn't buying it. She saw his left hand close over the detonator and knew she had to do something. No one would be able to stop him. She couldn't stop him. But she could keep the others from dying. **_

_**Frantically, realizing there was no way she was getting past the wall of military shoulders in front of her, she orbed to the other side of the men. Before they could stop her, she ran as fast as she could towards the intruder. His left thumb settled on the switch and began to squeeze. She was seeing it as if in slow motion. Sheppard realized the intruder was going to set off the explosive, turned, and started to shout at the men to clear the room. They wouldn't get out in time. Then he seemed to notice her running towards the man and shouted at her to get out. She ducked by him, her focus on the man's thumb. **_

_**5….4…..3….2….She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his torso. He barely budged, but she didn't need to knock him over, she only needed contact. 1…She could only pray she the self-generated force field she generated would be strong enough to contain the blast. And then…nothing.**_


End file.
